Lasers would be more effective than gas for blinding- gas is random and cant be aimed... BUT YES you are correct, most laser systems are for missiles and rockets... but they are all huge unwieldy facilities- my question is about when such systems become small efficient weapons... Hand held blinding devices are possible now... there is a long held maxim in warfare that a wounded enemy combatant is better than a dead one... the wounded tie up recources and other soldiers...

a laser powerful enough to knock out opponents weapons will blind anyone nearby looking in that general direction...

I once thought I had laser retinal damage- I was wrong it was just a floater that didnt move.... but it was kind of scary...

I have seen reports of laser eye damage- one was by a vietnam veteran that had seen hard combat- he said the experience was far worse than anything he saw in combat.... (he said it was like looking through a fishbowl filled with glycerin, blood and pepper)
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anyway, I just bring it up as a moral hypothetical... one which will become real someday soon