@Sir_Named So I get it if you are good and such but you throw off the balance of the game. Some people (like myself) can't have super high res graphics. I am lucky to even distinguish a player from the backdrop. So I am forced to use scopes and sites. And I am sure I am not the only one playing on a lower spec computer.
So right away, players with more money can do better and become "top player" because they have an advantage of seeing more detail without a magnification scope, now the game is unbalanced because they can snipe with a wingman and I can't, thus slowing me down when handling my weapon.
That aside, a pistol wouldn't realistically have the same stopping power from 10m to 30m. It unbalances other weapons. R99s become ARs, wingmans become snipers, etc. What is the point in using the other guns then? I personally love hard hitting weapons, I used to run the longbow with a 2x or 2-4x before they limited the sniper ammo (makes it difficult to say the least). But if you use a sniper, with our without a scope, you have all these other affects of movement, being blinded to things up close (because you are super zoomed, so having a scope doesn't really "make it easier" as you have stated) if being zoomed in made things easier, people wouldn't set their FOV to some crazy high number. I was sad they removed the skullpiercer from the longbow. I always went for headshots with it and was able to drop someone.
So my answer is no, they shouldn't be able to do damage because a gun of that type realistically couldn't, it would lose its velocity by the time it reached the person. I guess another way to balance this would to make the bullet drop off much higher for wingman and R99.
But the problem with "devs need to fix cheating" you are fighting an uphill battle. Make it harder to cheat yes, but make it so cheating won't really get you that much. With damage fall off, you limit the amount of damage at ranges, it would be incremental, so like <10m 100% damage, 10-20m 70%, etc (note arbitrary numbers used, have no meaning nor reference to any gun) This allows you to do damage, just not absurd amounts of damage.
PS: I laugh at your comment "...high magnification scope, which is easier to use..." because have you ever sniped?? Most times I don't even use a high power scope, it is much easier to use a 2-4x, that is my fav for almost all guns. I do enjoy the digi threat sniper just cause it has the digi threat.