I think a dimmer switch might be a bit more useful than a straight up switch/button/trigger, on a "Laser" rifle, and I can kinda see where the artist may have been going with this.
By definition a laser rifle would be firing none other than Light.
High output light, but still a stream of photons/electrons and not a cohesive bolt like a plasma weapon would project.
What would a trigger do, other than control how much light is put out?
It's not like it's tied into a mechanical system that controls the action of a firing pin..
With a weapon like this, you'd expect an "on" button, and a release trigger of some sort.
It would seem that this "trigger" is more of a dimmer-switch-like lever that would open the laser rifle up to full beam strength by opening an iris of some sort to let all of the pre-laser-beam light into the focusing lens.
this is all purely theoretical and mostly guesswork, and might not have even entered the mind of the artist tho..
