Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an estimate of the number of crossbows which have been sold in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years.

The Home Office has not made an estimate of the number of crossbows sold in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland in the last 10 years.

Crossbows are subject to statutory controls by virtue of the Crossbows Act 1987, which makes it an offence to sell, let or hire a crossbow, or part of a crossbow, to a person under the age of 18 years. This applies to those crossbows with a draw weight of 1.4 kilograms or greater. The Act is available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/32/contents