But they teach you weapon safety, how to carry a firearm, how to disarm someone with a firearm in hand to hand combat, and so on and so forth.
At the Police Academy, we all carry "rubber ducks". Rubber training pistols. Why, to let you get used to having a firearm on you 24/7. To teach you how to disarm someone hen you arrest them, to teach you how not to get your firearm taken away during a fight.
They're great training tools.
Lastly, you can't break the damn things. A airsoft rifle will break if you hit it hard enough. The Rubber Duck is just that. A piece of hard rubber.