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China Claims It Has Developed A New Laser Gun That Can Set People On Fire From Half A Mile Away

(Photo: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)

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Eric Lieberman Managing Editor
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A Chinese company claims to have created a laser-powered rifle somewhat similar looking to an AK-47 that emits an invisible frequency.

Named the ZKZM-500 after the company that allegedly produced it, the firearm can supposedly produce an energy beam that can’t be seen by the naked eye, but can burn through human skin and other materials, and travel roughly half a mile away, according to a Sunday report from the South China Morning Post. Still, it’s reportedly being called “non-lethal” because the company and government seem to believe it doesn’t have the same effects as a normal gun.

China says it is ready to be mass-produced and eventually used by the country’s military and police, but not by normal citizens. The researchers who supposedly worked on the project claim it not only emits an invisible frequency, and thus can’t be naturally viewed, but it also doesn’t make a sound.

“Nobody will know where the attack came from,” one involved researcher said, according to the South China Morning Post. “It will look like an accident.”

“The pain will be beyond endurance,” another asserted.

If the technology was actually created — China sometimes exaggerates its achievements — then it would turn science fiction of the past into present-day reality. (RELATED: Beijing Toilets Now Have Face Scanners)

But the energy source for the lasers are said to be lithium-ion batteries. As Devin Coldewey of TechCrunch notes, “there’s just no way that a laser powered by a lithium-ion battery that a person could carry would be capable of producing the kind of heat described at point blank range, let alone at 800 meters.”

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Tags : ak 47 china
Eric Lieberman