Colonists and Weapons

There is a (I am informed by someone I believe but will not name)
workable laser rifle design on the books. I say again _workable_ for
combat purposes. The only thing missing? Not the reliability nor
robustness (or they are considered adequate). The missing part is the
small portable source of power. You can choose to believe this or not.
It is my strong suspicion you will see this weapon deployed
operationally before 2015 especially if you consider some energy-density
and energy-storage projects DARPA is working on. 

Why is a laser a good thing? Recharge from a portable solar cell. Low
logistics demand potentially. Why is a laser fragile? Maybe it uses a
big fiber rod as its core, and thus hasn't got conventional optics and
has effectively a "barrel" very similar to a rifle that is about as hard
to jar or adjust (zero). What else makes a laser a good thing? Multiple
modes. Eh?

Modes:
1) wide beam - useful for driving off packs of predators, crowds of
brigands, or fighting insect swarms without massive pinpoint destruciton
2) focused beam - can be used to punch holes and bake things, accurate
and (if adjustable) potentially useful as laser saw or drill
3) flashlight mode - using miniscule amounts of power, you can have a
nice bright light. 

I'm not saying their aren't times you'd prefer a HAMR. But I can see
colonies on which one of these would be far more useful than a HAMR. And
their progression in technology is not only possible, but quite likely
given current research in fiber optics and laser diodes and related
stuff. 

As to the issue of what the ESU would permit its colonists.... do you
suspect that Russia permits the Mob there to have weapons? And yet there
seem to be an awful lot of them out there. And do you suspect that
weapons can't be made in a 2183 machine shop at night or in secret? I
can probably make a 2000 equivalent rifle with ease. Do you suspect that
ESU army units won't be moonlighting for extra cash as security for
smuggling or as "hitters"? I think you'll find weapons galore in ESU
colonies, though hardly as evenly distributed as those in Libertarian
Colonies like the AE. 

You're more likely to have few weapons (and fewer of the military kind)
in a Canadian-NAC colony than in an ESU colony. Or so I suspect.

Tomb.