Oh, yes they do compare to firearms, in so much as they are hunting weapons.
And you can hand load all you want, but with an airgun, I can change on the fly, literally, in a second switch from a high to low power shot or vice versa. You can't do that with handloading, you have to start changing cartridges, meanwhile, the target is long gone while you fumble around with them.
I still laugh at spider calling a .50cal airgun that can shoot through a cinder block a "pellet gun."
If it's so weak, why don't you volunteer to be shot with one to prove to us how weak it is?
"Police protection" is an oxymoron. Gun laws are like masturbation, they both feel really good, but after you're done you realize you haven't accomplished anything."