Added by 8of5

A laser pistol or hand laser was a type of hand-held energy weapon commonly used in the early half of the 23rd century. They were a successor of the phase pistol and preceded the Type-2 phaser.

Contents 1 History 2 Features 3 Appendices 3.1 Background 3.2 Connections 3.3 External links

HistoryEdit

Early hand lasers were in use by as early as 2045 on Earth. (TOS novel: Strangers from the Sky)

The Orion D'Jinnea owned a hand laser in 2218, and they were used by Federation Starfleet by at least 2248. (ST novel: Excelsior: Forged in Fire)

Starfleet continued to issue laser pistols until at least 2265. As of 2266 they had been phased out in favour of the Type-2 phaser. (TOS episodes: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Man Trap")

Starfleet-type laser pistols continued to be used to arm some civilian operations later into the 2260s, such as the expeditions to M-113 and Exo III. (TOS episodes: "The Man Trap", "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")

Hand lasers could also be utilized as emergency engineering tools. (SCE eBook: Foundations, Book Three)

FeaturesEdit

Starfleet issue laser pistols in the 2250s featured a grip and twist function to change the setting, they fired blue or magenta beams (presumably at different settings). (EV comics: "Flesh of My Flesh", "The Fallen")

Settings on the pistols included force-chamber overload and wide-beam firing. (TOS episode: "The Cage"; EV comic: "Cloak and Dagger")

AppendicesEdit

BackgroundEdit

The laser pistol was the first hand held weapon in Star Trek production history, however in-universe, following Star Trek: Enterprise's introduction of phase pistols, they might be seen as a step back in technology from the obviously named forerunner of hand phasers. However, laser pistols have also been shown used alongside phaser rifles in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and several Star Trek: Early Voyages comics suggesting they are perhaps an intermediate step used until phaser technology was available in a more compact form.

The name is also problematic as lasers compared to the phased energy of both phase pistols and phasers would be a step back, this would probably suggest that Laser pistols are not lasers under our current definition of the term, or that Laser pistols are not lasers at all and just named such as slang or maybe an acronym.

ConnectionsEdit

laser technology
tools	navigational laser • laser drill • laser-lathe • laser torch
weapons	laser cannon • laser pistol • laser rifle

Federation Starfleet hand-held weapons
Energy weapons	type-1 phaser/hand phaser	Sestra phaser I • Atalskes phaser III • Sestra phaser IB • mark V personal phaser
	type-2 phaser/phaser pistol	Sestra phaser II • Atalskes phaser IV • Sestra phaser IIB • mark VI battle phaser • phaser (alternate reality)
	type-3 phaser/phaser rifle	mark VII phaser rifle • compression phaser rifle • enhanced compression rifle • phaser rifle (alternate reality)
	miscellaneous	assault rifle • infinity modulator • isomagnetic disintegrator • laser pistol • laser rifle • neural disruptor • phase pistol • sniper rifle
Projectile weapons		compound grenade launcher • photon burst • quantum burst • TR-116 • TR-120

External linksEdit

• Laser pistol article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.