Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss.

Heinlein’s line is a comic warning about alcohol’s capacity to impair judgment and competence. The joke hinges on an exaggerated scenario—taking a shot at a tax collector—paired with the anticlimax “and miss,” implying that drink not only tempts one toward reckless, antisocial impulses but also makes one inept at carrying them out. Beneath the humor is a characteristic Heinlein skepticism toward self-indulgence and a preference for clear-headed personal responsibility: intoxication is framed as doubly dangerous, corrupting both moral restraint and practical effectiveness. The reference to “tax collectors” also taps a long tradition of anti-bureaucratic satire, using a culturally familiar target to sharpen the punchline.