Phaser Set To Stun

[Martta Borromeo]

Abeam setting was the amount of discharge given-off by a directed energy weapon, such as phase-pistols, plasma rifles, phasers, or disruptors. It was similar in concept to the variable yield capability used on torpedoes.

When Spock, Data, and Jean-Luc Picard outmaneuvered Sela in her office, Spock held a captured Romulan disruptor to her and warned her "I'm afraid I don't know too much about Romulan disruptor settings," forcing her to surrender. (TNG: "Unification II")

The stun setting was non-lethal, low yield beam setting; powerful enough to cause disorientation, unconsciousness, and minor skin burns to a humanoid lifeform. (TOS: "The Man Trap"; TNG: "Samaritan Snare"; VOY: "Distant Origin") While relatively benign to a humanoid, some stun settings could cause smoke, sparks, electromagnetic discharge, or any combination of the above to be emitted from walls and other solid surfaces and objects the beam struck. (ENT: "Damage"; TNG: "First Contact")

There were many resilient species against which the stun setting had little or no effect, including Augments, (Star Trek Into Darkness) the Xindi-Reptilians, (ENT: "Carpenter Street") and Humans infected by a parasitic being. (TNG: "Conspiracy") Angosians who had undergone conditioning to fight in the Tarsian War were also largely unaffected by the stun setting. (TNG: "The Hunted") To some more vulnerable species, even the stun setting was potentially lethal, for example the Trill symbionts. (DS9: "Invasive Procedures") When used at close range, a phaser set on stun was capable of inducing sufficient trauma to kill a Human, if fired at a vital organ such as the brain. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

Phase-pistols in use by Starfleet in the 2150s featured stun as one of two settings, the other being kill. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Terra Nova") Their stun setting could also be used to ignite fires. (ENT: "Desert Crossing") Later Starfleet phasers in the 23rd and 24th centuries had several different levels of stun setting. Starfleet regulations stated that phasers were to be locked at the level one stun setting. (TNG: "Aquiel")

A phaser set to stun could render a Human female unconscious in 0.9 seconds, something that was of no use to Miles O'Brien when a Pah-wraith possessed his wife, as it was still more than enough time for the Pah-wraith to kill her. (DS9: "The Assignment")

In an ultimately omitted scene extension from the script of TOS: "Court Martial", Spock gave Captain Kirk a phaser just before Kirk left the bridge of the USS Enterprise in order to search the ship for Benjamin Finney, who Spock speculated might already be armed. Though Kirk checked the phaser and started to make an adjustment on it, Spock notified him the weapon was already on the stun setting, for which Kirk was thankful.

According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (pp. 135 & 136), the first three settings on Starfleet phasers were the light, medium and heavy stun. According to the Manual, setting 1 was designed to only cause disorientation, setting 2 unconsciousness for fifteen minutes and setting 3 unconsciousness for an hour.

In a similar way as the kill setting could be used to quickly kill a room full of people when set on a wide beam setting (VOY: "Worst Case Scenario"), a wide-field stun setting could be used to stun large groups with a single shot. (TOS: "The Return of the Archons"; TNG: "Power Play")

Along with hand weapons, shipboard phaser banks could be modified to deliver a potent stunning beam to incapacitate large crowds on the surface of a planet, when fired from orbit. (TOS: "A Piece of the Action")

The impact of a phaser or a disruptor blast set to kill left behind an electrostatic charge. (DS9: "Second Skin") A phaser set to kill also left behind a distinct phaser burn on clothing. In 2370, Jason Vigo suggested to Bok that he could create such a phaser burn on his shirt and send it to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, to try to convince him that Bok had killed him. (TNG: "Bloodlines")

In 2267, the kill setting was found to be non-lethal to the flying parasites that invaded Deneva. Because each parasite was part of a huge organism, and drew strength from that organism, it could resist extended exposure to a hand phaser set to kill. Parasites exposed for five to ten seconds reacted as if mildly stunned; they fell from the surface to which they were attached, and did not react to external stimuli for about a minute. (TOS: "Operation -- Annihilate!")

To a Human infected by a parasitic beings, the kill setting only caused unconsciousness, due to the high levels of adrenaline stimulated by the parasite. However, extended exposure to a body part such as the head of a humanoid would still cause it to explosively vaporize. Two phasers set to kill could also vaporize smaller lifeforms such as the neural parasite mother creature with extended exposure. (TNG: "Conspiracy")

In 2366, Commander William T. Riker of the USS Enterprise-D was forced to use his phaser to disintegrate the Acamarian servant girl Yuta to prevent her from killing the Lornak tribe leader Chorgan. Stun and kill settings only caused her to recoil in pain due to her genetic enhancements. (TNG: "The Vengeance Factor")

Is there some reason for this constant admonishment to set phasers to the stun setting? Aren't all phasers calibrated to that default setting and have to be manually adjusted to a higher setting? I can understand a 'weapons check' but that is a different function altogether and is typically done by the armorer and demonstrated by the recipient when drawing the weapon, not waiting until they're standing on the transporter pad seconds before beam-down. This seems a bit late for such a function.

Phasers are typically stored in lockers (either in the armory or near the transporter pads) and are not personal. This means when you pick up a phaser it might be set to whatever setting it was last used on.

They set phasers to stun, because it's like saying check your gun and make sure you have the safety off or on. They don't want to attack and cause more damage than they are suppose to until the situation is clearly against them. Also, if someone friendly fires and the phaser is set at stun, the most that will happen is that the person will lose a couple of brain cells. I don't know if phasers have a off button, but if they do they are probably saying make sure your gun is ready to go, make sure it is on.

Some directed energy weapons did not have a stun yield setting. Some had only two settings, the stun and the kill setting. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Cease Fire") On phaser weaponry used by Starfleet in the 23rd and 24th centuries, there were several different levels of stun settings. Starfleet regulations stated that phasers were to be locked at the level one stun setting. (TNG: "Aquiel")

The first stun setting was called the "low stun setting", (TNG: "Force of Nature") "setting number one" and the "base cycle stunning force". (TOS: "The Enemy Within") A hit from this most minimal setting only left the target dazed, unable to stand and think straight for a short time. (TOS: "The Man Trap") Two phasers set on setting one fired simultaneously could break large objects into pieces, such as the urns of the second planet of the Taurean system. (TAS: "The Lorelei Signal") In the 2290s, a phaser fired on stun did not set off internal alarms on Starfleet starships. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

Also, stun probably was the main setting. Why would Starfleet have their main setting anything higher, they are suppose to help, protect and do as little damage as possible.Telling people to set their guns at stuns, is also like saying make sure the situation needs higher force before you used the kill setting. And it might have been like someone saying "get your head in the game".

Out-of-universe answer:

People writing sci-fi series like Star Trek where there is that casual audience to consider often have to assume that the person watching the episode may be uncaring enough to not bother watching the whole series/from the beginning so they have to accomodate for the lowest common denominator. This is why you often get people stating ridiculously obvious things (i.e imagine the main character's brother is introduced in episode 3 and then turns up again in episode 6, the fact the characters are brothers must therefore be mentioned at least two or three times in episode 6 for the sake of the people who didn't bother to watch episode 3).

In this case, the writers of Star Trek had the awful task of reminding the parents "It's ok, nobody is being killed here". If it weren't for that line (and bearing in mind the era Star Trek first aired in) imagine how many parents would have stopped their kids watching it or written in to complain that it was too violent because the 'bad guys' were being killed.

In-universe answer:

It's like when you plan to go on a big trip, and you always go to the toilet before you leave so that you don't have to go half way through the journey.

In this case, they check at the last minute to be absolutely sure. If they land in a hostile area and start firing, and only then does someone realise their phaser is set to kill, that someone could be 'fired' (or the equivalent, probably 'decommissioned') or even face legal action.

So to prevent legal action, they always make a final check before leaving, no matter how many checks they made prior. At least then if the phaser had a faulty mechanism or something they could cover their asses.

Pulling from real world experience, before military personnel begin a action, they often go through a checklist to verify preparation (see also: pilots pre-flight). A review of rules of engagement, objectives, tasks and timing to assigned to individuals is also standard. Set phasers on stun, in my interpretation, is the short hand for 'we've been through the briefing, now lets go do this'.

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