What is an air gun?

What is an air gun? It's a tool and it can even be "toy" like but I cringe whenever anyone calls an air gun a weapon. I am not looking to downplay the potential for personal injury or property damage that could be caused by air guns but the advance of time has long ago negated the threat to world stability that true air weapons posed in their day. Todays post is not to belabor history but to meditate on the place of air guns in the modern (and shrinking) world. So for the love of air guns let me deposit this thought nugget!

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Military air guns reached their pinnacle of development during the 1880s and continued their service until the turn of the century. The Dynamite Guns of the coastal battery and Navel ship mounted variety were the most powerful air guns ever devised and deployed. And yes they were huge, they could propel a 50 lb. projectile 5000 yards! Now thats an air gun! All this on compressed air. Of course this is far removed from the weapons that shook Europe during the Napoleonic age. The same technology accompanied Lewis and Clark on their journey of discovery into the American west. This air weapon was effectively eradicated by international treaty designed to stop its proliferation in an early example of detente! Since then the only air weapons developed were a few air guns camouflaged as something else, mostly gentlemen's canes.

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So what are modern air guns good for? Target practice supporting fire arms training. Hunting and pest control in locations that require limitations in noise and energy. Olympic style competition and general hobby use. This encompasses everything from informal plinking (what is formal plinking?) to the relatively new sport of field target which is a hunting simulation. Other hunting simulations and long distance target shooting (and if I have forgotten your favorite please forgive me).

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So while there are many reasons to get involved in air gunning; personal protection should not be one of them. It should be noted that even though air guns are not fire arms due care should be taken with they're handling. This potential to inflict harm doesn't make them weapons as power tools carry a similar potential for mayhem. Sharp and pointy objects are abundant in every hardware store and some even have a medieval aura about them. If you are thinking of any air gun for self defense I suggest you look to a different tool. Could I interest you in a hammer?

Rick Klages