Laser weapons have been a cornerstone of science fiction ever since the laser was invented in the early 1960s. The very first laser could punch holes in razor blades. Lasers are (usually) pretty simple devices, and I believe that lethal human-portable and/or vehicle-mounted lasers have been around since the '70s. I recall reading about high-powered airplane-based lasers, presumably for the purpose of shooting down aircraft and/or missiles, during the same era. I've been interested in lasers since I was very young.
Progress in the fields of electronics, optics, materials science, (etc.) has resulted in smaller, more efficient high-power lasers. I suspect that it's now possible to build a reasonably efficient human-portable laser weapon that would mimic conventional firearms in terms of size, weight and lethality. A laser gun.
But we'll probably never see such a weapon.
Lasers emit light. Light reflects off of things. Laser light is particularly intense - especially laser light with enough intensity to cause physical harm. Even subtle stray reflections of such light could cause immediate and irreversible blindness to anyone unlucky enough to be in the way.
I do believe that the archaic firearm will eventually be replaced, but it will probably be replaced by a railgun or a particle beam weapon. Not a laser.
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