The ZKZM-500 is the subject of a July 2018 article in the South China Morning Post describing a laser gun purported to have been developed by Chinese researchers of the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shaanxi. The article described the device in conflicting terms, both as “non-lethal” but also capable of “instant carbonisation of human skin and tissues”.
Outside of China, universal doubt was expressed regarding the existence of such a weapon.
SCMP probably propaganda video: [0:45] https://youtu.be/07XpBUzlxxE?si=
Putting out a cigarette on someone’s arm is nonlethal.
It’s not going to carbonize the whole human. For starters, it’s limited to the parts that see sunlight.