My first airsoft weapon was also a pistol, and I know of a couple others as well, so it can be done. If you start playing indoor games it's not a terrible handicap, as it's easier to move around many fields don't allow full auto fire for AEGs. Also, pistol only matches
That being said, if you've been trolling the forums for the past few years, you should have enough information so as to not get smitten by the ancients.
Welcome to the forums, and have fun. Cheers,
edit: yep, if you're logged out you can't quick reply. and the CA series is a fairly solid beginner's weapon. CAs quality control is sometiems a bit sketchy out of the box, so it might be worth your while to have a gunsmith take a look at the guts to make sure everything is where it should be. I'm also partial to battery stocks, so I'd reccomend getting one of those if the RIS model doesn't already have one - it makes the balance of the weapon a lot nicer, and you can hold a bigger battery. You can also pimp armalites to hell and back, which makes 'em kinda cool to have. Good luck getting started all the same.