I have one of the soft air pistols. Its the beretta 92 replica, I bough tit so that I could practice drawing and firing in my basement. Its a pretty decent replica, it even has a lead weight in it to give it the heft of the real thing, though it balances differently.
The plastic bb's it shoots could easily take an eye out or break your skin at a close distance- it will shoot through corrugated cardboard at a foot from the muzzle.
Its not very accurate- I can hit a 4" target at about 15 feet every time, but pellets tend to have a banana shaped trajectory in any direction shortly after that.
The one I have was cheap, its a fun distraction, but I understand that the high end stuff is much better- battery operated assault rifles that fire in full auto- that cost more than your typical hunting rifle though

IMHO definately not a kids toy.