I thought air soft was always in the grey area, had a few back in the day. Some of the full metal air soft guns cost as much as the real thing.

If you want a gun without permits, restrictions, could always get an antique musket, might get one myself, being in the country could come in handy for those wolves that come after my chickens, I'll even get rug out of it or a nice hat. It's not cruel if you shoot it yourself lol