Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of crossbows in the UK; and what plans he has to (a) categorise crossbows as firearms and (b) restrict the ownership of crossbows.

It is not possible to estimate the number of crossbows in the United kingdom as there is no license or registration scheme for the sale or ownership of crossbows.

The Home Office has undertaken a review into whether there should be further controls on the use of crossbows on public safety grounds, which was commissioned at the end of 2021 by the, then, Home Secretary, the Right Honourable Priti Patel MP.

The review has been completed and we will announce the outcome shortly.