I stand by the basic description, but I see your point. In the case of the light-gas guns, they are designed to cause harm to the spacecraft (to simulate the actual harm of micrometeoroids). In the case of the target shooting, 'harm' is caused to the target because the target is partially destroyed by the gun. When I say that guns are, by their nature, designed to cause harm. The act of propelling something faster than the speed of sound into something else is 'harmful' to the thing being propelled into.

Cars are designed to carry passengers and move people faster than ambulatory pace from one place to another - this isn't necessarily harmful by design. It does cause a disproportionate amount of harm when they collide with each other (or with squishy pedestrians) but this is not necessarily a key part of their design.