or it could be used to ionize the air between attacker and target, allowing an electrical current to be delivered stunning the target. such a "wireless Taser©" is in the works.
ok, enough about coherent light from me;) how about some more weird weapons?
there's the loogie gun from Snow Crash: "Both metacops, under their glossy black helmets and night vision goggles, are grinning. The one getting out of the mobile unit is carrying a short range chemical restraint projector - a loogie gun. Their plan worked. The loogie, when expanded in the air, was about the size of a football. Miles and miles of tiny cables like spaghetti with sticky gooey stuff that stays liquid until the loogie gun is fired. The snotty, fibrous drops of stuff wrapped all the way around her arm and forearm, lashed to the bar of the gates."
now that's an Entangle if i ever saw one.