I understand that it makes you more accurate because it shows a dot where you are shooting. But dont they give away location and enemies know where you are shooting, thus they can flank you?
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The lasers in movies where there is a long green line in front of the gun aren’t real. Or, at least aren’t normal. Maybe that’s what it looks like if you’re wearing night vision goggles or something.
The “laser scopes” I’ve seen for hunting, you don’t see anything except the dot that is on the intended target.
If you are engaging with an enemy that is organized enough to use small unit tactics under fire like flanking, then they’ll figure out your location as soon as you begin firing, lasers or no.
The situation you are envisioning (close ranges, unaware but professional enemy) is very common in movies and video games and very rare in real life engagements. If you are on a dismounted patrol with skilled adversaries in the area, they already know where you are. You’re patrolling a market or city street and are very conspicuous. If you are sneaking up on a professional force, guarding a building or perimeter, then you are only covert at a distance. Once one of you makes contact, especially if that is with small arms fire, then your position is blown.
Amateurs might have trouble figuring out where incoming fire is coming from, but amateurs aren’t likely to flank you. They are more likely to panic or return fire without much consideration for tactics.
Generally speaking laser mounts are only used in very short range engagements. The beam of the laser isn’t usually visible, instead it is only the projected dot which is visible to the shooter (and it does provide a bright light from their position as well). A sniper for example wouldn’t want to use this because it would give away their position, be only vaguely visible from their range, and wouldn’t be pointed in the right direction anyway (being aligned with the barrel rather than the scope). That sort of thing is just for the movies where they need to show a gun is being pointed at a character without actually showing a view down the scope.
Instead lasers are used when relatively short range encounters are expected. Pointing a firearm at a target very quickly while under duress is actually somewhat difficult, especially when it is a pistol where there are tiny sights on the top to align. By using a laser sight pointing the firearm is basically as simple as directing a laser pointer: Put the dot on the target and the barrel is pointed in the right direction as well. Bullet drop isn’t relevant over such short distances so that is sufficient to indicate where the shots should strike.
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