set phasers to inflict pain

Pulsed Energy Projectile (PEP)
It vaporises the first thing it hits. This creates a plasma that heats the surrounding air so fast that, basically, the air explodes. The resulting shock wave will knock you to the floor.

Pentagon gun will inflict pain from mile away
documents uncovered by the Sunshine Project, a biotechnology watchdog, also reveal that the same technology could be used to kill a person.

The Pentagon seeking new ways to kill is not in any way shocking. I'm worried more about the use of this indiscriminately for crowd control. Almost all so-called nonlethal devices are killers. Anyways, off topic. This isn't being picked up in the US media, which describes most stories of importance these days.