I have an air rifle, .117 cal, that could kill a person with the right shot.
I used to practice shooting it behind my parents house in VT. I could shoot a quarter out of target at 25 yards. More than enough to shoot critters.
Sure, but no matter how powerful the air rifle, I wouldn’t want to have to rely on it if a murderous criminal or tyrant were coming after me.
I would not want to take a raptor pellet from our Gamo varminter.
My .177 punched a hole clean through a squirrel at 15 yards. He ran up the fence post, ran along the top of the fence rails for maybe 25 feet, then croaked. Varmint fell into my animal-loving neighbor’s yard, so I had to quickly fish it out with a homemade gaff hook before she or her dog discovered the ventilated squirrel carcass.