Modern pellet air rifles can rival some firearms for projectile speed and although the projectile mass is smaller than bullets, they can still do damage.
I have 22 cal break barrels that tosses out Beeman extra heavy 21 gain pellets at 800-900 fps. The lighter ones get to 1000 fps. My preference for rabbits & squirrels is the Gamo ~15.5 grain round lead balls.
Nothing to mess with. They will shoot more than an eye out.
They’ll put your eye out . . . and yours . . . and yours . . .
I have a RWS Model 54, amazing what you can do with it!
Had the opportunity to shoot at 100 yards indoors (NO WIND), from a bench, a soda can was easy pickings.
A noticeable lag on hitting the can!
With the right pellets , keeping it just in the subsonic ...
What the article calls “pellet guns” are shotguns.
Just a stupid journalist nomenclature error.