To me, this sounds like a Taser minus the wires. There were some articles posted a few years ago about using a laser (UV I think) to create an ionized air path over a long distance. The ionized air path was then used to transmit electrical current to the target. I can think of a few other interesting applications for such a device that don't involve shooting it at humans.
I just heard today of an optical laser point-to-point data connectivity link between institutions a couple of miles apart. That is cool.