What's up with crossbows and state laws?

H

Heist

Moderator
Did people watch too many James Bond films and start worrying about assassins using crossbows or something? I just listed my rhino recurve on eBay and in addition to California, there's probably a few other states that I have to block buyers from.

What was the impetus for this? Cali also bans nun-chucks. Yep, someone watched too many bad '80s movies.

I can understand legislators going for guns, but crossbows?!
 
I know of no California state laws prohibiting crossbows. I'm not sure if you are allowed to hunt with them.

Tim
 
Banning crossbows goes back to medeival times !!! It's shaped like a cross you know so you can't use it against christians... NYS ,for hunting now permits it only if you are a blind quadrapalegic , I think :rolleyes: !!
 
Yes, some of this legistlation really did come from too many 80's movies and television combined with legislators wanting to make it look like they are doing something.

Really, nunchucks used under stress by a person who has no idea what they are doing is really just as much of a danger to them. There is this tendancy to lose control, or for the swinging end to bounce once it hits something.

Many states also ban "butterfly knives". I'd rather face that than a gun. The ones punks carried were cheap knives you could twist apart. Not like a $600 balisong from Darrel Ralph or some other custom knife maker.
 
Nunchucks...

They're afraid that Americans will find running around wearing orange bandanas and living in the sewers to avoid paying property taxes and such as something attractive!! :D :D :D


Epyon


P.S: COWABUNGA!!!
 
Nc

In NC you have to have a pistol permit to purchase a crossbow.:confused: It's also not legal to hunt with, unless you have a disability. I have no problem with a restriction on using it during bow season, but I feel it should be allowed during gun season for anyone who wants to use one.
Robbie
 
I would think that a crossbow would be a rather dangerous device to carry around loaded, given that such a tremendous amount of tension is held in the bowstring. If that string ever broke, or if one of the bow beams ever broke, the crossbow could do quite a bit of damage to its holder. I don't know; I've never played with a crossbow before. Anybody care to comment on this?

As far as the numb-chucks are concerned (I can't spell it, so why try?), we have that wonderful late-'70's and early-'80's obsession with Bruce Lee to thank for the strict ban on nunchukau (did I spell it right then?). (I actually did some research on the legislative intent on this ban a couple years ago for a law school class!) It seems that several of the California-based street gang members started fancying themselves as martial arts gurus. You can still see in some of the old 1980's movies, when the toughest of the street thugs comes around the corner, he stops and spins the 'chucks for a moment. (No kidding! This was apparently a real problem in California. People were getting their heads beaten in by idiot kids toting numb-chucks.) Anyway, nunchaku (I think this one's spelled right) got to be a symbol-weapon of the California gangs. California banned them, and the rest of the country quickly followed suit.
 
Got a speeding ticket last March, had to go to traffic school. Teacher told of a case of road rage where some college kids had been "offended" by another driver, so as they passed him they mooned him. This upset the man, who was a doctor, by the way, and he got the kids to pull over, went to his trunk, pulled out a crossbow and killed one of them.:(

On a lighter note, if you want to be an assassin, a crossbow is perfect.....silent, untraceable, effective. The down side: short range for a kill shot.
 
What was the impetus for this?
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I can't say why other states banned crossbows, but here in Ohio they were banned for a number of years because of poaching concerns.

I remember writing the letters to the elected critters in Columbus, but dang if I can remember the years, trying to get the law banning them overturned.
IIRC, it had to have been prior to 1980 - the year I got my crossbow.

I should add -
Aside from some very poor gun laws & drug laws, Ohio has a rather refreshing take on a number of things.
Crossbows were treated the same as switchblades. You could own one or make one, but you couldn't carrry one, sell one or transport one. There was no specific law against being in posession of one.
 
It's not about guns (or crossbows or nunchuku), it's about control!

All states did not follow California and ban everything! Thank, Jeebus.

Good thing I live in Indiana, I think I'll walk on down to the store with my crossbow and buy a cool set of nunchuku (maybe with engraved dragons).:rolleyes: :D
 
When the bow breaks

I had a compound bowstring come apart once. Strings now are 1 piece. Back then it was a cable with a little attachment on each end called a teardrop. The bowstring was stranded with a loop on each end that hooked to the teardrop. My teardrop came off at full draw. That particular bow I had set the poundage at around 70 pounds. It knocked my glasses off. I had welts on my face and arm. One small cut on my forearm, but nothing serious. I took it to the bow shop to be restrung and was back in competition the following week. That experience was bad enough. I think a crossbow would be worse due to the higher poundages.
Robbie
 
I was in a Sproting Goods Store in LaCrosse WI and heard on clerk tell the new clerk that if they sell a crossbow to anyone then get the name and address so they can notify Game & Fish because they only reason to have a crossbow is so one can poach game.......
Last time I shopped there.
 
I can understand legislators going for guns, but crossbows?!
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Why? Crossbows are silent assassin's tools, unlike guns.

Don't try to understand the logic because there is none - it's not about making people safe, it's about making people THINK they're safer by creating a boogeyman and false solution, and in the process taking power away from the people and putting it into the hands of the government and the politicians that run it.
 
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