Criossbows

[george]

from British Blades

Hi Simon,

Thank you for your inquiry.
There is no law disallowing the use or making of broadheads in the UK other than those laws which deal with any object used in such a manner as to be judged to be an offensive weapon.
We have chosen not to sell into the UK as we dont want to encourage people to misuse bows for hunting.
Hope this is the information you need...
Regards
Tom Bishop
Quicks Archery

Found this in this thread on BB

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=811&page=3&pp=15

Its been gone over loads of times here - all hunting with bows or crossbows in the UK is illegal - doesn't matter what point or if it's a blunt or a broadhead or whatever.

Point as I see it is that we are all law abiding folk (I'm sure all of us here on BCUK anyway) trying to go about our hobbies, pastimes, whatever in a peacable law abiding fashion. We act responsibly and follow whatever codes of practise appropriate. Then along comes some daft so and so who gets the press all heated up because they bought some crossbow with broadheads off an internet auction site and then shoots someone. Press start baying for blood, public outcry, politicians jump on the bandwagon and suddenly my collection of arrows from all over the world is illegal.

Hasn't happened yet but easily could - so well done Rob for getting e-bay to listen.

George

 

[alick]

Gerd makes an excellent point about the greater hazard from carrying a crossbock cocked. My field archery club rents land from Forest Enterprise and they as landlords set the condition that crossbows cannot be used on their land for exactly this reason.

No one I know in our club has any problem with this restriction at all, though we are not anti-crossbow. Only very safety conscious and wary of them for that reason.

On the positive side they do provide a way for disabled archers who could not pull the weigh of a normal bow to take part, and there is a class of crossbow that is used for extreme precision target shooting - these have many similarities with olympic style competition air rifles.

While there's no reason a UK seller should be barred from selling broadhead bolts FOR EXPORT ONLY I'm very pleased to hear ebay have been open to your suggestions on this. Far better a responsible sales policy than yet another indiscriminate government ban.

Well done. :super:

 

[arctic hobo]

In Finland where bowhunting is legal (looked into it for our expedtion) you're not allowed to hunt with a bow that can be held in a drawn position - ie a crossbow. http://www.saunalahti.fi/~sjml/index.html

 

[Rob]

Excellent! :biggthump

Not being able to use a bow that can be held in the drawn position? That must include compound bows too.

That'll make you stalk it

 

[Great Pebble]

The law.....is an bottom.....

Mek!

 

[bambodoggy]

Just a few bits from me....

I'm rather a fan of crossbows, however, I can't disagree that they can be very very bad things in the wrong hands.
It's hard to justify one over here in the UK as we aren't allowed to hunt with them but I have one and use it in my garden....ok it's only messing about with it but I'm not harming anyone and I enjoy it.
I'd use it to hunt with if I was allowed but I'm not so I don't.
I also have a compound bow for the same reason and again would hunt with it if I was allowed to.
Either way they are both as dangerous as each other....it just so happens that the crossbow looks the more horrid and evil of the two.....is that reason to ban them?
Heck if we're banning things on looks then I'd imagine I'll be getting banned soon!
Crossbows are easier to shoot better without training....is that the reason we don't like them?


Final point: somebody earlier in the thread mentioned that there was no legislation on crossbows and who can own them and who can't. Might be worth those of you who want to ban and legislate taking a look at the crossbow act first.....most of the age things are all there and ready to go!

I'm surprised that you're all so anti crossbows, yes they can be nasty and yes they don't look as "robin hoodsy" and romantic as normal bows but they (like knives, guns, cars, iron bars etc) are only as nasty as the person holding them.
I can see the point about "Yahoo's" out in the woods with deadly weapons but surely there's more than enough guns in the US so that a few crossbows won't make much difference and over here that's not an issue as we can't hunt with them anyway.

Cheers all..... ):

 

[arctic hobo]

I think that the reason many people are not happy with them is that any idiot can fire a crossbow, as he pulls it back, holds it, then releases it much like he could fire a gun. Whereas a longbow requires skill and strength to pull, hold, aim and fire accurately. In the hands of an average yahoo I'd imagine a crossbow would be much more deadly - in the hands of an expert a longbow would be far more deadly.

 

[bambodoggy]

See now that's a very fair point Hobo and very true..... but the rest of the thread was a little biased....

):

 

[woodrat]

o.k. you guys I've got three crossbows and have been practicing and hunting small game for several years. 1, crossbows are powerful, but at ranges 50yds. and under. after that power and accuracy fall dramatically. mine all have saftey's just like a rifle, never had accidental discharge yet. and let me tell you they require far more stalking skill than either guns or bows. If you want a clean good shot you have to get as close as possible, on small game I need to be within,[i.e. rabbits], 50ft. so the reality here is that the only problem with croobows is the human factor, not the tool. why they are illegal, same thing! better pay close attention to this because that can apply to anything and may one day, the legal system is like the medical system, they only treat the simtoms and not the problem, thats why they are illegal most places.

 

[alick]

Hi Woodrat, I sympathise with the general attitude that it's not the object that is the cause of the problem, just the irresponsibility of the user but I'm not at all unhappy to see these restricted on ebay. This won't prevent an enthusiast buying whatever they want but may well slow down the kiddies. It's a better step than legislation.

My only other comment is that if you (as you imply) are willing to trust a safety catch, then I would politely decline to accompany you around the woods.

Cheers

 

[Martyn]

A few questions from someone who knows nothing on the subject.

I dont own a crossbow, nor do i want one particularly.

However, a couple of things strike me about this thread. There are lots of folks talking about the irresposible use of crossbows, I'd like to know what is the scale of the problem? What eveidence is there to suggest that there is in fact a problem? (It appears to be largely annecdotal from what I've read so far.)

I ask this, because I oppose the tightening of any legislation, the removal of any liberty, when it's justified with hearsay, annecdote or paranoia. If there is sound reason for tightening up, good evidence to suggest there is an escalating problem, then fine - we need to do what needs to be done. But for goodness sake, dont just hop on the scaremonger bandwagon and start demanding tighter restrictions for problems that dont exist. We need much less of that, not more of it.

I make these points, because I cannot remember hearing any negative issues regarding crossbows in recent times. As I said, I have nothing to do with them and am poorly placed to comment really, but the lack of any negative publicity leads me to suspect that the numbers of crimes and/or accidents commited with them is very few indeed. Can someone better placed than I, give me some hard facts here - one way or the other?

 

[Rob]

Liberty aside, I speak as someone who enjoys field archery a great deal, and do as much as I can to promote it. I am the Secretary of a club, and give a lot of my time to it.

I have no problem with people who buy and use crossbows. I have shot in competitions with people shooting that style.

Ignorance and lack of training is the issue when it comes to bows and arrows. I dont like the fact that you can walk in to a fishing tackle shop and buy something where you may not get good advice. The amount of people that i have come across that have been sold a bow to go "hunting" with disturbs me. Dont get me wrong, I have no beef with hunting. The fact that people were selling crossbows as "toys" and "ideal for hunting" and for less than £10 just makes me shiver.

I think that we can agree that the type of bow shot in the olympics, and the "clinical" way in which that sport is set up is a completely different to field archery or simulated hunting (if that is the way that things are set up). I shoot a "hunting weight bow", that comes with it's own specific safety issues. My greatest fear is that if the archers do not police themselves, then someone else will.

Thankfully, I have not come across an example of people causing havoc with crossbows in recent years. But maybe that is because kids arent outside getting up to mischeif. I did hear of an archer being shot in the stomach last year by a crossbow archer. This was an accident, and they do happen. I know of more people who have been seriously injured or killed by bows, not by arrows.

At the end of the day, bows can be lethal, and so can archers (of whatever experience). I have nearly been shot myself, a number of times over the last 7 years - maybe i should stop upsetting people. I respect bows and arrows. The problem is with the person holding the bow.

 

[Kvitulf]

Wish I could hunt seal from my greenland kajak with a crossbow made to withstand seawater and a harpoon sort of bolt.

Too much of them here in Northern Norway, of course they eat everything they can, and are full of parasites cuz of overpopulation which in its turn destroys the small amounts of fish the local fishermen/sportfishers catch cuz of parasite eggs :?:

 

[woodrat]

don't get me wrong, i'm not saying I foolishly trust the saftey, but that it would take the same kind of situation that would discharge a rifle,[i.e. ahard knock or drop] for it to accidentaly shoot. I've just never had that problem. and I totally agree with you about ebay!!! lot of irresponsable people out there and we all suffer because of them, whats a mate to do??.

 

[alick]

Hang in there.

Cheers mate. :biggthump

Alick