I remember when I was given my first b-b gun, it was the same kind from the Christmas Story I believe. I had amazing times with that gun until it was taken away when my younger brother got a hold of it and shot my window to see if it would break. later on down the line, I bought high quality co2 pistols but got bored with them extremely fast. You could find your son anything from rifles, pistols or even automatic b-b or pellet guns. go online and look some up, as long as you articulate responsibility and actually spend a lot of time with your son teaching him how to properly handle and use the gun, I think you'll be good. my dad always put great emphasis on being responsible and only shooting at targets and that he'd kick my ass if I ruined anybody's property, so I never did.