NO WAY! Do not need a reason to double down on melee combat and turn Starsector into a glorified beat-'em-up like Streets of Rage. Guns need to stay as guns, not turn into knives, brass knuckles, or chainsaws (because they deal insignificant damage beyond point-blank range)!
That aside...
No hard flux is a huge downside for beams. If anything, the smaller beams and Paladin PD need help.
Small beams are low-powered and good mostly as anti-missile PD, although they are effective against small ships with no or weak shields (i.e., early-game fodder).
Medium beams are graviton, which is a tactical laser substitute with... quirks, phase beam which is mainly a PD weapon against small ships, and heavy burst laser which is barely stronger than the small burst PD, but with much worse efficiency. (I prefer small burst PD over medium.)
Of the large beams, HIL and Tachyon Lance are useful, but Paladin PD is a liability due to horrible flux inefficiency for what it can do.