The Crossbows Act 1987 is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, which is still in force. The Act, as amended, controls the possession of

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fi ...

s by people under the age of eighteen throughout the whole of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It gained

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

on 15 May 1987, and came into force two months later.

Provisions of the Act

Section 1 of the Act made it an offence to knowingly sell or hire a crossbow (or part of a crossbow) to a person under the age of seventeen; section 2 created the converse offence of buying or hiring a crossbow whilst underage. Section 3 made it an offence for someone under the age of seventeen to possess a functioning crossbow, or of sufficient parts to make a functioning crossbow, unless under the supervision of an adult. Section 4 gave a

police constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

the power to search someone or their vehicle, if they suspected an offence was being committed under section 3; to detain someone for the purpose of this search; and to confiscate any crossbow or part of a crossbow which was found. A person guilty of an offence under section 1 was liable for up to six months imprisonment or a fine up to level five on the

standard scale The standard scale is a system in Commonwealth law whereby financial criminal penalties (fines) in legislation have maximum levels set against a standard scale. Then, when inflation makes it necessary to increase the levels of the fines the legisl ...

; a person guilty of an offence under sections 2 or 3 was liable for a fine of up to level three on the standard scale. On conviction, the court could order any crossbow or components involved to be forfeited or destroyed. The Act explicitly does not apply to crossbows with a

draw weight This is a list of archery terms, including both the equipment and the practice. A brief description for each word or phrase is also included. __NOTOC__ A *anchor point – A point to be touched by the draw hand or string when the bow is fully d ...

of less than .

Amendments

Section 44 of the

Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 (c. 38) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Origin The United Kingdom Government published a paper "Drinking Responsibly - The Government's Proposals" in 2005 setting out their proposals for ...

amended the Act, raising the minimum age for possession from seventeen to eighteen; in Scotland, the same change was implemented by Section 62 of the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007.

References

* {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1987 Firearm laws