New Zealand
After encountering two life-threatening thoracic injuries in their own practice, two surgeons conducted a study to assess the injuries that a commonly available air rifle could cause. They tested .22 calibre spring-loaded airguns in a series of shooting experiments on pig cadavers, finding they could reliably cause lethal injuries from 10 metres away. Furthermore, nine out of 10 shots penetrated the chest wall, going 106mm deep on average. These kinds of firearms are currently available in NZ to people over the age of 18 without any background checks or license, but the authors say these findings back the idea that they should be considered more like small-bore rifles - and restricted accordingly.
From:
Air rifles are common in New Zealand and are legislated for based on the mechanism of the rifle rather than performance. Spring loaded and C02 air rifles are available to those over 18 without any background checks or license. Our study showed that in a euthanised animal model and a ballistics gel model, a .22 calibre air rifle was able to cause lethal injuries reliably at 10 meters. We believe this should be considered in potential restrictions on these weapons.
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