A man shows a girl how to hold an airsoft gun at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston on May 5, 2013. A few major U.S. retailers have agreed to keep realistic-looking toy ...

Airsoft BB guns are replicas that launch lightweight plastic projectiles. Among combat sports hobbyists, the splatter of paintball is giving way to the pop of pellets.

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace and online sales ...