bb guns- soft air guns-pellet guns

Question
My son is 12 years old and was out with a friend of mine at a shooting range. (My friend is a cop) I was told he did very well and I was thinking about getting him a bb gun for christmas. THe problem is I AM LOST! I was thinking that there was just a bb-gun. I nver in my life thought there were so many available!
1)What is the difference between the bb gun, soft air guns, pellet guns...etc.
2) Will gun locks fit onto these types of guns?
3) Who would I contact for a safety course in my area? (the local police/sherrif?)
4) What is tthe difference between metal bb's and plastic bb's? Is one more safe than another?
Any and all advise would be greatly appreciated.  

Answer
It's great that you are asking about safety training. Many parents just let a child use a bb gun on their own without training, and that would be a mistake.

I don't know if the police force in your area has gun safety training. In my area, training is available through NRA associated gun clubs. Check into your local gun clubs, you will find that the people there will be friendly and very safety conscious. At my last gun club, we had a special safety course for young people to use bb guns. Then there was a shooting league where they could compete, if they wanted.

A bb gun uses air to fire a steel ball that is .177 inch diameter. In most bb guns, you can load a quantity of bbs into the magazine. The same gun can fire a pellet that is .177 inch diameter, but you have to load them one at a time. Pellets are made from lead, and are somewhat hollow, so they flatten out when they hit the target. Since a bb is solid steel (but copper plated) it can bounce off from a hard surface, so care must be taken to make sure that you have a suitable target to prevent a ricochet. A lead pellet can also ricochet, but to a much less extent. Glasses should be worn whenever shooting any type of gun.

A standard pellet gun shoots a pellet of .22 inch diameter, and only one pellet is loaded at a time.

It is best to start out with a bb gun, shooting .177 cal steel bbs, because they are much cheaper, and can be used many times if your target traps the bbs for re-use.

Bb guns can be powered by a CO2 cylinder, or by cocking a mechanism on the gun (lever, pump, or barrel). It is probably better to use the cocking type, because then you don't need to keep buying CO2 cartridges.

Soft air guns shoot plastic balls at relatively low velocity. They are much less dangerous, but they are not very accurate. So, it is likely that he would lose interest quickly if he can't shoot accurately. They are mostly for training on how to handle a gun, but not especially useful for target practice.

A trigger lock can be used, of the type that covers the trigger so that the trigger can't be pulled. This does not provide total safety on its own, however, because the gun also must not be cocked and must not have a bb in the chamber. If the gun is cocked and there is a bb in the chamber, it is still possible that the gun may discharge even with a trigger lock. This could happen, for example, if the gun was dropped and it released the internal trigger mechanism.

Hope this helps!

Dave