Doesn’t Look Real, Never Leaves Home

I am a young older lady with some physical disabilities that keep me at home a lot, even before Covid!
I am lucky enough to have large groups of native birds visit my, completely private and contained, backyard daily. They love the olive, peach, and fig trees and I am happy to share the fruit and yard with them. I also put out a smallish amount of seed for them too. Unfortunately, there is a large population of feral pigeons in the area that are a real nuisance. I was using a “Nerf” style gun to “scare” the pigeons but these projectiles now litter my backyard because it is difficult for me to collect them. My nephew was aware and gave me an older gel-soft “handgun” with a plastic barrel top ball loader. So much more environmentally friendly and more effective too, without causing injury to any birds or damage to property.
My “weapon” does not look real, is not used to hurt or intimidate anyone, and NEVER leaves my property. It’s fun to use and a great conversation piece too.
There has to be a better way than this apparent knee-jerk reaction; Make it mandatory to have them painted any colour combo that is not metallic, camouflage or black…. Require them to be registered with police even if it means a small rego fee to help with costs.