........ So he was plain stupid.....
Yes ^ ^ And so too is the attribution of most any legal ramifications on-md'rs , that comes up. Persons who, with an ounce of sense, could have known to be a little .... uh ... "more discreet"
There was a case here in CA where a reservoir (owned by state park's dept), water level got SO LOW during a drought, that Gold Rush era foundations were exposed. Because prior to the creation in the 1950s, there had been a little gold rush era hamlet there. And now, during the extreme drought, foundations were exposed.
This brought out some news media. And after seen on the nightly news, this only served to bring out scores of gawkers to look for themselves, in the days that followed. And naturally, this also meant that the state park's people brought in some archie dudes from Sacramento, to assess, pose for some more news interviews, blah blah. So the scene was practically like an archaeologist convention.
And what does some numb-nuts md'r do RIGHT DURING this veritable archie convention ? He comes waltzing through the crowd, swinging the Radio shack detector he just bought.
So they tell him "scram". But could he listen and simply give lip service and leave ? NNNEEEOOoooo . He has to dispute them. And try to say that he found nothing *specific* in park rules , or state of CA website (which, BTW, is true). So the two get in a p*ssing match, and he gets issued a ticket. But could the guy simply pay the $100 and simply "learn his lesson" ? NNNEEEOOOoooo. He decides to fight it. On grounds that there's nothing specific. Thus lo & behold, guess what the state does (thankfully ONLY that SINGULAR location) : They make a rule to address his "pressing issue"
So when I hear of tickets or hassles like that ^ ^ I do NOT construe it to mean "Let's all grovel" or "everyone hates us". I construe it to mean, just like you said : "........ So he was plain stupid....."