Have laser guns been invented yet?
It has already been done and tested. There are even some machines capable of welding with a certain type of laser called a gas laser, the most popular of their type are carbon dioxide gas lasers and argon ion lasers. They are currently in the industry market today. Class IV/4 lasers can burn skin, and in some cases, even scattered light can cause eye and/or skin damage. Many industrial and scientific lasers are in this class. The United States Military is even producing laser weapons that are not only capable of blinding enemy troops, but can destroy tanks and even aircraft. The ones that can destroy targets have been fairly recent in development, and they have hopes of having them in the field soon. There are also very, very small lasers that are used in the medical field and in engraving things.
We do have directed energy weapons, though a laser gun as a carry-around pistol does not exist. At least, not as anything declassified. However, laser guns in actual military applications are very much real and alive. The US military (DARPA) has developed and deployed a system mounted on an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier, such as the M-2 Bradley) that uses directed energy (laser in this case) to shoot down the dozens of Lebanese 10-foot-long by 5-inch-diameter, Soviet-designed “Katyusha” rockets that cross their border every day. It takes less than two seconds to acquire, fire, and destroy a rocket. This is known as the THEL/ACTD system (though the “experimental” part has long been passed out of use). Currently in Afghanistan, US forces don’t need to compete with large rockets, but they do compete with small rockets, UAVs (yeah, you never hear about the enemy having UAVs, do you?), and even the famous RPG-7. This is where the Laser Avenger system comes in. It is complete, functional, a
