Let's hope no future Bond villain gets ahold of this laser shotgun

We all know that one day, the world will fight its battles with guns that shoot high concentrations of flesh-burning light instead of bullets. World peace would, of course be a more sensible option, but laser guns are at least cool-looking.

One YouTuber couldn't wait for the age of laser guns, so he built a makeshift shotgun that can fire a super-concentrated bolt of light at its targets. It can actually cause a good bit of damage if those targets stand still long enough to allow themselves to blow up or be set on fire.

YouTuber Styropyro, a laser weapons builder who has made a handheld lightsaber and a laser gun drone, published a video Sunday showing off the destructive capabilities of his latest creation. It's a 40-watt behemoth that shoots lasers using a lithium-powered battery pack taped to the butt of the gun and eight 5-watt laser beams. When the trigger is pulled, the lasers run through a huge magnifying glass that acts as the muzzle and can concentrate the lasers into a single, powerful beam of pure heat.

This weapon can't blow a hole through the torso of an Imperial Stormtrooper unless he's willing to stand completely still and not wear any of his armor for probably half a day of so. However, it can cause some serious damage to items like balloons, crumpled bits of paper and piles of unprotected black powder.

The video's star admits that such a creation can be dangerous and insists "there's no good reason for someone to own something this powerful." Let's just hope this insane thing never falls into the wrong hands -- like some dictator with access to imprisoned scientists who can improve on the design or that creepy kid down the block who likes to set ant hills on fire.

(Via Gizmodo)