"As far as the word Airweapon is concerned, just live with that word, personally I think it is a weapon (looks and general idea of shooting a projectile) and we need to think about it as a weapon and handle it as a weapon; it can be used to kill or injure another which can be animal or human."

Sorry Len, I don't agree at all there. The fact that it can be used as a weapon doesn't mean a thing. There are more people bashed every year with golf clubs than shot with airguns (according to Home Office statistics), and golf clubs evolved from weapons, but do we have golf weapons? Are shotguns referred to as 'shot weapons'? No, they aren't. The very word 'weapon' is an insult to the 99.8 per cent of airgun shooters who are intensely law-abiding.

The word 'weapon' has bad connotations, and it's continual use in connection with airguns unfairly blackens our name and helps to turn the public against us.

I know that I am arguing about semantics here, but what's wrong with referring to airguns as airguns? Why do we have to be tarred with that brush?

The fact that some animals are shot with airguns is neither here nor there, full-bore rifles used for shooting deer are referred to as sporting guns or sporting arms, not sporting weapons.