Is Airsoft Safe for 10 Year Olds

Often kids come home and inform their parents they Need an airsoft gun, and most parents then ask, "What is an airsoft gun and why practice you lot need ane?"

1. Airsoft Is Older Than Paintball.

A footling history, airsoft was invented before paintball back in the '80s. Tokyo Mauri in Nihon created the starting time airsoft gun, about eight years before paintball was invented. The early on guns were powered by a compressed air cylinder which was connected to the gun by a hose. They were used for target shooting and playing state of war games in the woods. It became pop in Japan along with paintball. Years later on Tokyo Mauri came out with a M16 replica gun that ran on a bombardment they called it an AEG (automated electrical gun), and airsoft took off worldwide.

G36C AEG, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, M4 Commando AEG

Larry Grenevitch

ii. These Are Low Velocity Not-Lethal Guns.

Airsoft guns were created to exist low velocity not-lethal guns. This is accomplished by using a 6mm or 8mm plastic BB that is very light (.12 to .45 grams), fired at low velocities 170 to 550fps (feet per second). In Nippon, the fps limit is 300fps with a .20 gram BB for all guns. Kids large and small accept always wanted to play soldier, and these guns requite them an opportunity to exercise that with the right protective gear. They should not be dislocated with Daisy BB guns sold in the United states for years which at close range are lethal.

iii. Exist Aware of Safe Concerns.

There are safety concerns that parents need to be enlightened of. Children need to play with full clothing, long sleeve shirts, pants, and gloves. Bbs volition simply get out a red spot through apparel, merely on blank pare information technology can crusade a blood cicatrice and can bleed, if hit at close enough range with a loftier enough velocity gun. This is one reason airsoft fields in the US and around the world take a x to 20ft minimum date altitude and any gun shooting .20 gram Bbs at more than 400fps must observe a 100ft minimum appointment distance. This may sound bad or scary to some, merely in reality it is a minor upshot, and you lot find adults (18-22 year olds) on the field all the fourth dimension in shorts and curt sleeve t-shirts. Even so, this is as well why I personally do non allow my children to play in the lawn, unless there will exist an adult supervising.

The greatest danger in airsoft is being shot in the centre with a BB. That is why all fields indoor and outdoor require full seal goggles designed for paintball or airsoft. Fifty-fifty if your child is only doing target shooting, he and anyone in the area should at a minimum take shooting glasses on. This is because the low velocity plastic Bulletin board system bounciness off hard objects, wood, stone, etc. I have personally shot at a wood lath lx feet away and had the BBs bounciness back and hit me on the head. The danger to the eyes cannot be overemphasized, and this needs to be communicated to your child, and your child needs to fully understand this before he touches whatever airsoft gun!

4. Responsibility and Gun Condom Are Critical.

Since there is an chemical element of danger with these guns, this was an excellent way to teach responsibility and gun safety. I have personally found with three of my children that my imposing strict gun safety rules with them has helped them to exist safe, mature, and run into that they demand to be conscientious fifty-fifty when playing a "game" that is "condom." In fact, they are now actually more conscientious than I am which is comforting, and yep, I did have to ban them occasionally.

Gun safety rules:

Ever article of clothing eyewear when shooting.
Always point the gun in a prophylactic management.
Never await down the butt.
Ever have the gun on prophylactic (safetied) until you are about to shoot.
Never put your finger on the trigger until yous are aiming at the target and are set to shoot.
Always treat the gun every bit if it is loaded.
E'er care for your airsoft gun like a real gun.

If y'all follow these rules, you can exist safe and accept a lot of good clean fun.

5. Airsoft Guns Bear Resemblance to Existent Guns.

Like any gun possessor, airsoft players bask the pleasure of owning a respected gun, whether that is a M16, SCAR, AK47, MP5, G36, etc. Adding rail, handles, barrels, goose egg-betoken triggers, etc. All the things that you can do with a real guns are also the rage for airsoft guns. This is what has made the sport so popular. Heckler & Koch makes the guns used by special forces units around the world and some of the almost reliable guns in the world; the airsoft replicas perform up to that reputation and are very popular.

There are many countries that ban their people from owning real guns, Nippon and England to name just 2, so airsoft guns with their close resemblance to the real steel guns is the closest people in these countries can go to owning a real gun.

6. Airsoft Guns Can Exist Fun: Target Shooting, Outdoor Play, and Indoor Play.

I have spoken almost the dangers involved now allow'southward talk about the fun y'all and your child tin can take. Target shooting is where we started, with a spring pistol from BassPro Shop. I next purchased an AEG because I could do target shooting and play on an airsoft field with it (I thought), then a shotgun and finally a sniper burglarize. The most fun per dollar has always been using my Double Eagle shotgun and I would highly recommend whatsoever shotgun that has an adjustable hopup. For accurate shooting and learning how to apply all the shooting techniques of a real gun the sniper rifle has been the most fun.

Having small skirmishes in the backyard is as well fun and practiced preparation for going to an organized outdoor airsoft field. These fields may be a belongings endemic by the person putting on the game day, or land rented from the canton, or country, or a piece of land where the owner allows organized play. This blazon of play will usually exist based on simulated military blazon missions.

Indoor fields allow younger players to play in a more than paintball similar style. Games normally last 5 to x minutes. Although dressing with layers of vesture would be recommended, since minimum appointment distances are shorter than those in outdoor play.

7. Know Your Laws.

Before purchasing an airsoft gun you also need to find out what the laws are in your city, your country, and for those outside the US, your country. For example, in Massachusetts information technology is illegal for anyone except the kid's parent to give a kid an airsoft gun: grandparents, aunts, or uncles volition go to jail if they buy one and give it to a kid. In many cities/towns it is illegal to discharge ANY BB gun fifty-fifty airsoft guns, and then target shooting in the backyard is illegal. And some states exercise non allow an airsoft gun to leave the store except in a gun case.

Questions & Answers

Question: how old do y'all think your kid should be to own an airsoft gun?

Respond: Totally depends on maturity. They have to be able to grasp this is a toy that can hurt someone and take respect for that.

Question: What method should I utilise to secure an airsoft gun? I'm in California.

Reply: You can use a gun trigger lock.

Question: Will airsoft pellets damage siding on a house?

Answer: Perhaps

Question: How practise the biodegradable Bulletin board system affect the surroundings? Do animals eat them?

Reply: That is the source of great argue. The biodegradable Bbs - half of the BB has to break downwards into dust in half dozen months. Where I played in Georgia places with high concentrations of Bbs would exist muddier considering they are pea-size gravel and allowed water to get into the earth more easily.

Question: What are the laws in South Carolina for airguns?

Answer: SC last time I lived there was one of the least regulated states.

Question: What about laws in Oklahoma?

Answer: I practise not know. Yous will have to do a search like Oklahoma airsoft laws or pellet gun laws.

Sam on Jan 30, 2019:

but I see this every bit related though. Don't you think and so, it all virtually airsoft.

Hullo on December 24, 2018:

HEY Chris don't talk like that on and airsoft page it isnt even realated to this topic

Chris on October 01, 2017:

I almost wish that we lived in a country that banned guns then that we could run around our neighborhood playing Airsoft without worrying nigh a bad cop shooting united states of america, or, some lunatic with a concealed behave permit shooting us imagining that he'll be some kind of "hero" for shooting one of us because "he had a gun".

We did play "Cops and Robbers" with Airsoft guns in our back yards a few times and it was GREAT fun, nosotros all LOVED it, but, I'm afraid it's but too dangerous, that somebody might shoot my kid. So although I actually desire my kids to play outside like that, get some exercise, have a ton of fun, and become abroad from the cell phones and video games for a while, it might just non be worth the run a risk :(

I hope someday that volition change, and society will stop accepting police officers murdering innocent people because they mistakenly "thought they were a threat" or were "scared" - ane should simply not be a cop, not be allowed to be a cop, if they can't stop themselves from shooting people who are not really aiming a gun at someone or if they can't be patient enough (and keep their distance) to figure out that a kid has only a toy gun or airgun instead of behaaving like a trigger happy psycho and murdering the child within seconds of arriving at the scene (speaking about the poor boy who was murdered by a bad cop in Cleavland Ohio).

Tristan on July 19, 2017:

Hey guys I'm an Airsoft technician out of AZ, I'm hither to add together a few things to this intro to airsoft and clear up some confusion caused by the annotate section. First the confusion, I've seen multiple people say mesh masks'due south are bad for Airsoft, while this is true for eye protection, this is not true for face protection, yes in that location is still a take chances at point blank that a bb could shatter through, while bad for the eyes, the velocity of the BB fragments later entering the mask would be then low that a mere scratch would be the worst matter that I've always seen come up of it (personal feel), at present on some things that yous may still be wondering if you programme on letting your kiddo come and sling Bulletin board system with the residuum of u.s.a.. First is that every field has their own set of reasonable limits, for example the indoor field I work at has a non conditional fps limit of 350 and y'all MUST employ house Bbs (special colored field BBS purchased at the front), the reason for this is to forbid people from bringing .32'due south or even higher in a chrono check when they should be using .xx'due south this would upshot in some one with a Loftier powered Airsoft passing a chrono at 350 fps simply having the kinetic energy (resulting in hurting) of a bb flying at 450+. 2d, is that some modifications to your Airsoft "weapon" could be illegal depending on where you live then be sure to check land laws, i smashing example of this is calculation a more realistic looking flash hider or an Airsoft suppressor (mock or functional) ; if your here in the Us then I'm sure your very familiar with the orange flash hiders and barrel tips that come on every Airsoft gun in stores, it is a federal police that these guns have these orange flash hiders and tips upward to the point of auction, once the transfer has been made it is up to land law and your own discretion to make up one's mind if you want to remove the flash hider or not, here in AZ it is no where about illegal to remove an orangish tip compared to a place like California where the gun must have the orangish tip during transportation and must take a piece of colored tape around the grip, trigger baby-sit, and magazine. Be certain to bank check your state laws before modifying your Airsoft "weapon". Now if you ever want to know about the technical specs of Airsoft guns, need guidance or aid modifying your "weapon" (internally or externally) or but accept more than general questions about the sport/ hobby it's self, you lot tin can head to your local Airsoft field and enquire the technician and other staff at that place or you can contact me at tristan mares on Facebook (the motion-picture show is of me in a helmet it's hard to miss lmao) or @twistairsoft on instagram, you guys have a great day

Tristan on July nineteen, 2017:

Hello, I want to cover a few things that the author may have forgot to mention and articulate up whatsoever mischief that the comments may have stirred upwards, in an airsoft technician out of AZ, and accept worked at multiple fields with my current job residing at our priemier local indoor field, first of all aye it is possible for a bb to bounce back at 60 feet, there are and so many factors that come into how a bb ricochets that it's about impossible to tell if one won't. now, the author did a groovy job at explaining and actually created the nicest into to Airsoft I've seen yet, but anybody forgets something so here's the pocket-sized details that he may take forgotten

Dylan on July 12, 2017:

I have a glock eighteen, it's an amazing gun considering I got information technology for £15 pounds, but information technology'due south not the smallest or easiest to handle. What pistol should I aim for now?

Maurice Dudeley on February 07, 2017:

Similar your point of view!

Definitely, parents should really aware of and should watch over their kids when playing airsoft.

http://deadcenterairsoft.com/best-airsoft-gun/

larryg2011 (author) from Portland, OR on February 02, 2017:

Did the police abort him? Schools are gun gratis zones fifty-fifty airsoft guns.

Will on January 31, 2017:

I'm xi and hoping to convince my mom to allow me get an air soft gun. What is a proficient, cheap, starter gun, similar a pistol, etc. Thanks for the astonishing insight! ;)

RavioliAssassin on January 25, 2017:

What would I where if I have a 300fps SCAR what should my friends and I where

Ryan on January 21, 2017:

Eddie that is absolutely wrong... Wire mesh in my opinion is well-nigh as safety as a total mask.... And whatever bb would never be able to explode and get into your eye unless you weren't wearing goggles or safety glasses.... Shame on yous if you weren't!

jesmond on January 11, 2017:

a child had 1 at my school and shot some1

RealAuzzie on Dec 22, 2016:

Non a very informative article. Might I suggest telling the states some of the safety concerns of airsoft. Or maybe, tell the states a picayune about the history. Like, which is older? Airsoft or paintball?

Haha, just kidding mate. Go along up the dandy piece of work, it is very fun to read.

larryg2011 (writer) from Portland, OR on December 09, 2016:

I am sorry yous experience that fashion. How many outings did you get from your AEG before it broke? What was your price per outing? A lot more than the $25 to $30 that a shotgun costs, so my betoken is if the shotgun only lasts 1 outing it is still cheaper than your AEG, and the user tin can decide if he or she wants to upgrade to an AEG.

Pg on December 02, 2016:

Not to exist mean or anything but double hawkeye Is kind of a sucky make for airsoft

bgigstead on Apr 08, 2016:

Great Article. I have been playing with my son for the past 2 1/two years.

Louis on April 03, 2016:

What are the rules for air soft guns in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland,Godalming???

Yay 2.0 on April 01, 2016:

In Ohio there are a number of fields blooming! Fallen Warriors is one. Located in Chillicothe. Their is War Den Airsoft most Cincinnati. And many more. I personally adopt fallen warriors. Airsoft Ohio is a keen website for events and news in Ohio!!

gabrielle on Feb 17, 2016:

we live in the hastens and my son is 10 and he has been bugging me for a year what age should he get a airlift be he said he would get a pinkish m4

kevin on January 14, 2016:

simply play safety and just take fun

Yay on August 01, 2015:

Any good fields in Ohio

yolomickswag on April xvi, 2015:

i don't want one to shoot just to play with

Grayson on March 14, 2015:

I am 16 i have been playing airsoft for iii to 4 years now i vest to and help manage a pocket-sized squad called woodland rebels airsoft. Overall this article does have useful info merely get-go whenever looking for your first gun think about what y'all will exist doing if its backyard play some .12 gram bbs will be perfect as well every bit a low powered cheap double eagle or crossman springer or aeg if playing at a field you may want something a little stronger because if you use those guns you will hit nothing for the younger ages 10 and under i would advise a g&g combat machine and for it buy .xx gram bulletin board system likewise as a 9.6 volt battery for ages in a higher place that id go with something a bit improve however a little more than expensive a we katana works nicely which y'all would apply the aforementioned battery and a.23 or .25 gram bb of course you need face protection of any sort some fields require full face protection some practise non it is smart to buy a smart charger for your bombardment. For safety if the player is wearing goggles you should not worry virtually eye harm most players within a certain range even without a safety rule will non shoot instead warn y'all that you are out and for you to get back to your spawn (why waste ammo) if you go to a field more times than not you volition render with a few whelps but you should not worry too much just keep in mind to exist courtious and call your hits likewise Exist RESPONSIBLE WITH YOUR AIRSOFT GUN don't walk around on the street with information technology in hand reccomended is a rifle bag but most of all have fun and be prophylactic

John Doe on December 26, 2014:

I am 23 year old airsofter, at first this sport seemed silly to me up til a few years ago when i started getting interested with the ammo shortages irresolute my shooting habits. Since the spark of my interest I institute myself at a CQB field and decided to expect into it and ask questions then came done to trying it. At start I was in that location just to waste material time only after it really changed my view and I'm looking forwards to getting more active in the sport. I started out with a We Heavy Weight CQB Master 1911 (from Evike.com) with a pair of goggles that I liked and did inquiry on (Smith Optics, if y'all were wondering) and the knowledge that its a good idea to article of clothing a long sleeve shirt with pants ( of course). Starting out, I knew I didn't desire to go cheap b/c of my fondness of the realistic weight of the gear tickling my obsession with real steel firearms this sport has taken me past a landslide. A tip for the younger and newer players is to call your hits b/c nothing is more than irritating to a regular player than someone who don't accept or call their hits (More fun and less arguing with someone else or a referee.

Charlie Leonidas on Dec 06, 2014:

In the example of California, you're right.. the discharge of airsoft guns is illegal, but simply PUBLICLY. Nowhere does it say that discharge in individual holding is banned. Only if you do not permit the public ( your neighbors for case) get offended, or feel unsafe. Bank check with your neighbors and local laws. But other than that, you lot should exist fine

Craig on Oct 21, 2014:

This was a good article. I recently went to an indoor CQB loonshit with my 11 year old son. He had been bugging me for a while, and it sounded similar fun. We rented gear, played several rounds, and I recall I had as much fun as he did! While there is some inherent gamble, the facility was very rubber cautious. They do a full condom briefing followed by a facility walkthrough, and while they don't accept a set historic period limit, they were very engaged during the walkthrough and asked my son very specific questions to see if he was paying attention.

Parents with kids who limited interest in airsoft, my advice would exist to have the time to educate both yourself and your child. Airsoft guns are not toys, and should not be treated as such, simply they also are not something to fearfulness. If your child has the maturity to learn the proper safety, it tin be a very fun and rewarding activity.

larryg2011 (author) from Portland, OR on September 29, 2014:

In Massachusetts it is illegal for anyone except your parent to requite a child an airsoft gun.

Kevin on September 25, 2014:

Is it ture that your uncle and etc tin can become to jail

Nate on August xiii, 2014:

I'k 12 I've been playing with airsoft since I was three actually all you need are glasses and my starting time was a stinger p3 11 at Walmart or anywhere really for about $fourteen

larryg2011 (writer) from Portland, OR on August 05, 2014:

Thanks for the clarifications.

Matt on August 04, 2014:

By the style Existent Steel guns ARE LEGAL in England, providing you take enough infinite to safely shoot away from houses and civilians, and that you have a checked gun locker, you will get your license for up to .22 Semi-Automatics, whatsoever quotient over this must be single or bolt action, shotguns require a separate permit and all handguns excluding revolvers are banned except for on a few of the UK's surrounding isles.

larryg2011 (author) from Portland, OR on July 23, 2014:

Yes, glasses will fit under masks.

cool on July 23, 2014:

Wait I accept glasses will they fit under masks?

Scott on July 18, 2014:

Disagree with the 60' bounce back and laugh if you desire, but his point was sound.

BB'southward bounciness. Protect everyone's eyes.

Geoff on June 15, 2014:

^not necessarily. It ask depends on how much you're willing to spend, and your idea of fun. Just exercise your research before every single buy, because at that place'southward chances you lot could of bought something better for your money.

Colin on June 13, 2014:

Well as an extreme airsoft thespian I tin can safely say that this person (in some places) has no thought what their talking well-nigh. It'due south funny actually. Also there is NO mode that they could have shot a board at lx anxiety and still have been striking by information technology. Also double Eagle is terrible, and shotguns are terrible get an repeat one Xcr-c, or a G&G combat machine mk18. As a starter weapom

Brony on June 03, 2014:

Ethan, different guns have different accuracy, fps, and many things can be determined by the size of the bullet. Information technology is possible for a bullet to bounciness off a wood board and back at you. It has happened to me before.east.

Anyway, practiced commodity/post.

colin on April 22, 2014:

this is a great way to learn the concepts of an air soft gun.

Mike on January 05, 2014:

I concur with ethan how is that possible

ethan on December 10, 2013:

I must disagree with the "forest board bounces dorsum bbs at 60ft", I have an Ashbury airsoft sniper that does 530 fps and never in one case have I been hit fifty-fifty at 40ft.

Eddie on Feb 16, 2013:

Interesting. Whatever you do, do non buy mesh confront masks. If it is shot with an airsoft gun over 400 FPS, information technology will shatter and go in your eyes.

Trisha on January 15, 2012:

Give thanks y'all for your article. I found my 6 year old playing with the 10 yr old neighbor kids and had no idea what airsoft was. While I am not still totally convinced this is a good idea at his age, I'm not as put off as I get-go was. We volition exist buying some condom goggles.