I doubt 'just' painting the lenses would be treated as any less criminal than other ways of disabling them. It would still be considered vandalism at a minimum, and given the climate in the US now, probably terrorism. Wear a MAGA hat while you're doing whatever you're doing and maybe you'll get pardoned if you can frame your motivations well enough /s

I'd thought of drones right away too -- but those are being criminalized so rapidly esp. in the USA from what I hear... and drones can draw a lot of attention esp. in certain areas.

DVD-writer lasers are, if I recall, not visible to the naked eye, which makes them quite dangerous (cheesy video apparently confirms this, at the end). If paired with a visible light or dollar-store visible laser pointer, to set up the aim... then just leave the DVD laser on for a few minutes or however long it would take to burn out the CCD.

But again, heavens PLEASE never aim them skywards.