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Shelby Trautman
Professor Veronica Jayne
English 1201 Online
30 September 2014
The Power of a Pellet Gun
Did you ever play with fake guns as child? I sure did. From squirt guns on a hot summer
day to the infamous Nerf guns, my friends and I played with them all. I grew up with three
neighborhood brothers who loved shooting at targets and of course, at each other. But these fake
guns are not nothing like pellet and airsoft guns. Pellet guns have much more power than a
stream of water coming from a toy that is smaller than your fist. Pellet guns are dangerous and
can cause death. Yet, they are not considered real by the federal government (Magee). This is
why I think that pellet and airsoft guns should be sold and treated like real guns because they
cause confusion they look too much like real guns to tell the difference, criminals use them to
commit crimes without the consequences of carrying a real firearm, and they are not considered
dangerous despite their fatality.
What piqued my interest about this subject is that recently there was a shooting at the
Beavercreek Walmart in which a man carrying a pellet gun was shot by police. I shop at this
Walmart all the time and my mom works on the same street. It is about fifteen minutes from my
home in Dayton, Ohio. Before my research, I did not know much about guns. Pellet guns and
airsoft guns use compressed air to propel plastic balls (Magee). They originated in Japan in the
70s. Manufacturers made replicas of real firearms for Japanese civilians because civilians were
not legally allowed to have real guns ("To Bear, or Not to Bear, Airsoft Arms").
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In the United States, I found some interesting facts about pellet guns. I was shocked to
find out that they are not sold in the glass cases with real guns. Instead, they are put on the
shelves for anyone to have access to and easily buy. I knew you had to be 18 years old in Dayton
to buy one and I assumed that you would at least have to have a permit or license to purchase a
pellet gun. But, in the state of Ohio, you do not even have to have a permit for a real handgun,
you just have to be 21 ("Ohio: Your State Firearms Laws). Permit or not, pellet and airsoft guns
are more like real guns than fake toys.
Pellet guns should not be called fake because they can look identical to the real thing.
They resemble and function like real guns (Magee). They project flying objects in the air at
great speeds, just like real guns. Magee explains that a .32-caliber handgun produces a muzzle
velocity of 1,210 feet per second A traditional BB gun shoots 1,200 feet per second. If a
pellet gun and a real gun can have velocities that are almost the same, they should have the same
laws.
With guns that look and act real, police and bystanders can become confused when they
see pellet guns. It can cause a chaotic uproar of fear from those around. The victim and the
police dont know that the gun is not real, and that can lead to [those involved] being injured
(Lane). It is extremely difficult to tell the difference between a real gun and its replica pellet gun
(see fig. 1).
Even though the gun may not be real, people may not know that and believe that it is real
and become very scared. There is no formula for determining whether the person with a gun is a
threat to anyone. Its a judgment call the officer must make, sometimes in a split second
("Dayton Media Explore Ohio Gun Laws in Wake of Walmart Shooting & Open Carry
Incidents). It is dangerous to assume that they are not going to shoot, and that is why officers
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will most likely have to shoot first in order to ensure their lives and the lives around them. Since
they look so much alike, I would not take that risky chance of thinking that the gun may not be
real. Fake or not, in a shooting situation, I am not going to try and find out.

Fig. 1. Special Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier holds two identical looking guns, the gun on the left
is a center fire rifle, the gun on the right is a pellet rifle ("John Crawford's Girlfriend: 'It's Not
Fair'").

To help with the confusion, pellet guns are supposed to have a bright orange taping at the
barrel of the gun to signal that it is not a real gun. The federal law requires these orange tips
(Magee). However, that does not mean that will keep a criminal from taking the tip off to use
against a victim.
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It is becoming more often that criminals are using pellet guns instead of real guns to
commit crimes such as robbery. Since they are not considered real firearms by the government,
criminals cannot be charged with an armed robbery (Magee). The criminal will not be charged
with carrying a deadly weapon and their sentencing will be much less. These guns pose a threat
to public safety. Therefore, people planning to commit crimes know beforehand that if they use a
pellet gun instead of a real gun and are arrested, their sentence will not be as harsh as if they had
a real gun. This allows criminals to commit the same terrible crimes but they are not as scared of
receiving a long prison sentence.
In some instances, if the police shoot the robber, people can object that the killing was
wrong. They can say that since the robber was not carrying a real firearm, then he or she should
not have been shot. Police then can be charged with a crime for wrongful shooting. Either way
the criminal wins. These [so called] toys are being used by criminals to get what they want
(Lane). Criminals are manipulating the law in their favor. Therefore, the United States needs to
enact laws that treat pellet guns the same as real guns. Criminals using fake guns should receive
the same sentencing as if it were a real gun.
Pellet guns are so realistic that people cannot tell the difference and police are confused.
This ends up in a case where the person with the pellet gun are shot and people are in an uproar
because a police officer shot someone who did not even have a real gun on them. These guns
need to be sold like real guns if they are going to look like real guns. They should have the same
restrictions on age limits. People need to start considering pellet guns lethal and treating them as
a real weapon, not just a toy.
It is well known that a real gun is fatal. However, it is not commonly understood that
pellet guns can be deadly too. In my research, I found countless stories of injuries from pellet
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wounds but I found deaths too. In the year 2006, for both male and females, the number of
nonfatal injuries in the United States caused from pellet guns in 0-4 year olds were 287 while
firearm injuries were only 83. For 5-9 year olds, pellet gun injuries were a whopping 2,389 while
firearms were a mere 289. Ages 10-14 years, pellet gun injuries were at 7,433 and firearm
nonfatal injuries were 2,100 (Alters). How are we not considering these guns real if they are
injuring more youth than real guns? To me, that is amazing how many more nonfatal injuries
there were for pellet guns over firearms. I would have suspected the opposite.
Even though these rates are for children, it can happen to adults too. I found a case where
an 18 year old boy died from a pellet gun shot. That is not a small fragile child. That is a grown
man that tragically died. This man, was shot by his college roommate and died from internal
bleeding. His roommate was sentenced three years in prison (Associated Press).
Honestly, I was surprised that an older person could have died from a pellet shot. I was
more surprised that the roommate was only sentenced three years. He murdered a human being.
From my personal experience with watching the news and a lot of crime shows, most people do
not get three years for murder. Three years is nothing compared to what he would have got if it
had been a real gun. Because the gun was not real, he should not have received a real murder
sentence?
I think people need to change the way they think about pellet guns. They need to stop
thinking that they are toys and that it is acceptable for young children to play with. Children are
getting seriously injured or killed because of these toys. I think that people need to take them
more seriously. No, they do not fire the same bullets as real guns but it is hurling a flying object
at vast speeds at a person. That is just as dangerous. Stores need to start thinking differently
about how they are displayed and start selling them in glass cases like real firearms. If people
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buy them seriously, they will take them more seriously. Even though I think you should have to
have a permit to buy a real gun that is not the case in Ohio. I also think that pellet guns should
require a permit but there is no chance of that if real firearms do not even need one. Pellet guns
overall need to be taken more seriously and treated with more respect.
I think if people started considering pellet guns just as dangerous as real guns, then there
would be a lot less injuries and cases of death in children. It would teach children to take them
more seriously and not point it at each other. If pellet guns were sold in glass cases and required
to be 21 to buy, people would realize that they could be dangerous. However, a drawback to this
would be that some people would be angry. They want a practice gun for their kids to use so that
when they are old enough to buy a real gun, they will be a good shot. But, criminals would gain
an advantage. If people became afraid of the dangers of pellet guns and a criminal tried to rob
them, the person would be just as scared as if it were a real gun and likely to follow through with
the demands of the criminal. Despite that, I think the amount of youth deaths from pellet guns
would go down immensely.
Though there are a lot of negatives that come from pellet guns, I understand that there are
positives also. A lot of people think of pellet guns as a young persons practice gun until he or
she is old enough to get a real gun. I think this is especially true for families involved in the sport
of hunting. It gives youth the chance to do target practice and become a better shooter. In the
article "To Bear, or Not to Bear, Airsoft Arms, the police chief of Cincinnati, Ohio said that
they use airsoft guns for training. In the same article, an advocate of airsoft guns says that war
veterans use them in war re-enactments. These are all good benefits of pellet and airsoft guns
but, the benefits do not outweigh the costs.
Pellet and airsoft guns are dangerous and lethal weapons. They are almost identical to
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real pellet guns and can cause confusion because of that. Put in the wrong hands, crimes occur
and public safety is put at risk. Despite the popular belief, they are capable of actually killing a
grown person, not just hurting small children. Pellet guns need to have the same age rules as real
guns and need to be given the same amount of respect. They need to be sold in glass cases with
the real guns. Though they are fake guns, they can really hurt and kill people. Therefore,
people need to act as if pellet guns are real guns and they should be sold that way also.

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Works Cited
Alters, Sandra M. "Numbers and Rates of BB/pellet Gun Nonfatal Injuries, Firearm Nonfatal
Injuries, and Firearm Deaths, for Persons Aged 19 Years and Younger by Sex, 2006."
Gun Control: Restricting Rights or Protecting People? 2011 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2011. N.
pag. Information Plus Reference Ser. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Sept.
2014.
Associated Press. "Man Sentenced In Roommate's Pellet Rifle Death." AP Regional State Report
- Michigan (2012): Points of View Reference Center. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
"Dayton Media Explore Ohio Gun Laws in Wake of Walmart Shooting & Open Carry
Incidents." Buckeye Firearms Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
"John Crawford's Girlfriend: 'It's Not Fair'" Mydaytondailynews.com Homepage. Web. 29 Sept.
2014.
Lane, Laura. "Fake gun, real threat: Realistic pellet guns being used to intimidate crime victims."
Herald-Times, (Bloomington, IN) 18 June 2014: Points of View Reference Center. Web.
22 Sept. 2014.
Magee, Dennis. "Airsoft guns raise legal issues." Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (IA) 30 Oct.
2011: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
"Ohio: Your State Firearms Laws." Ohio: Your State Firearms Laws. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept.
2014.
"To Bear, or Not to Bear, Airsoft Arms." - Cincinnati News, FOX19-WXIX TV. N.p., n.d. Web.
17 Sept. 2014.