Did that blast come from the Death Star?

It's a lot cheaper to do this sorta thing in Photoshop - of course then you might get fired along with the missiles.

Not as effective though.

laser rifles - not just for stormtroopers anymore.

laser guns already exist, though they are not permitted by the Geneva Convention.

The rayguns developed so far were designed to maim, not kill. And that is illegal.

We live in such a civilised world.

What is odd is the whole notion of maiming. The current M-16s along with many other rifles/rounds are designed to tumble on impact doing more or less the same thing that dum dum or hollow points do but passing the Geneva convention. In some ways the Geneva convention is a joke. However the alternative is far worse.

In combat it is typically better to maim than kill because you then demoralize more and also you tie down the group who has to take care and rescue their fellow soldier. This has been noted for quite some time and makes up a significant part of war theory.

The Geneva convention is good in that it prevents things from going too far in that direction.