This ain't real on topic... but the reasons that cartoons use lasers is
so that children can readily reproduce the violence seen in the cartoon.

Methinks you've been sopping up too much of the media's "kids and
guns" bullshit.

The real, and rather obvious reason is purely visual: you can see
the laser as it is projected toward the target and hits it, usually
with spectacular results. Conventional firearms are far less
dramatic, in that one doesn't see the projectile in flight and it
doesn't really do much when it hits (don't believe what Hollywood
shows you here either :).

Of course real-world lasers aren't usually visible, or dramatic,
but 'toon lasers always are :)

      Well there it is.  I think I may have watched the Gargoyles
episode Deadly Force too much......

Naah, that was pretty balanced. But didja notice that in Gargs the
bad guys always use some sort of beam weapons, while the good guys
don't.....


Ed