And the ones from the first season looked like Dustbusters, obviously
a Freudian reference to those who do not wish to anger thier mothers
my making a mess.  I always prefered the Romulan and Klingon disrupters
as well as Babylon 5's (I don't wanna hear it) PPGs, none of which
seem to have stun settings (or at least lower settings that don't
leave you in ICU for a month).  I was never fond quickly resolving
a nasty situation by stunning the offender(s) and then brushing off the
use of force (remember what Q said in the premiere -- Stunning some
creature DOES kill them).  I'm not blaming casual TV violence on the
stun setting, it's the Trek equivalent of the sonic screwdriver --
an easy out when the writers could have done something more clever.
Remember, neck pinch was Nimoy's idea to get Spock out of hitting
the baddie of the week with a phaser butt.

As for the phasers, If you're gonna shoot someone, you should mean it.
Stun settings are for people who can't commit.   Hmmm... I think I'll
be changing my scifi.sig ;-)

(And this from a guy who thinks that gun control is hitting the target.)
==========================================================================
Bill Capehart (w...@essc.psu.edu)    "Stun settings are for cowards
Penn State Meteorology               who don't take death seriously."
University Park, PA  16802                        
==================== /* John Galt, Call Your Office */ ===================