This is not really connected to my story but I had an idea of having finger guns that actually work. Because lasers are cool I thought that you could have a character with the ability to magically generate lasers from their fingertips. Let's say that they could generate a laser with a high amount of wattage from their finger tip. Also, let's assume that this laser is near infrared since I think that is the absorption frequency of human skin.
Would it be effective for combat against an armed person or would it not be effective in combat due to constraints like distance or speed of a kill?
Edit: Would a pulsed laser of a high wattage with a fast/shorter pulse length be a good alternative to a cw laser of high wattage?