The crossbow often has a complicated legal status due to its potential use for lethal purposes, and its similarities with both firearms and other archery weapons.
[1] Recent changes to laws in Western Australia to prohibit crossbow ownership require applications to legally possess a crossbow by July 2, 2011, before they became illegal to possess and sporting usage is only legal for people currently participating in the sport at the date of the laws introduction and does not apply to or allow for new participants thereafter.
According to the Criminal Code, barrelled weapons launching a projectile at a muzzle velocity not exceeding 152.4 m/s (500 feet per second) are also not considered firearms.
[3] This ensures no licence is required to purchase a crossbow, unless it is barrelled and launches projectiles at a velocity exceeding 152.4 m/s (500 feet per second).
Though older PAL cards say that one is allowed to acquire one, the laws designating them as firearms were struck down before they could be implemented.
As a specialty to be noted is that, crossbows do not shoot as per legal definition in Germany, since they don't use expanding gases or similar mechanisms to propel a projectile.
[8] In the Netherlands crossbows are regulated by the "wet wapens en munitie" (law on weapons and ammunition).
In Norway, crossbows are considered equivalent to firearms, and possession requires a license (Innførsel og utførsel av våpen, Tollvesenet).
Sale or possession of normal bows of any strength are regulated in the same way as the previously mentioned weak crossbows and air rifles.
According to the Hunting Laws, crossbows are weapons which are manufactured solely for attack and defense, and they are prohibited to import, sell, purchase, carry and possess.
Section 44 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 raised the age limit from 17 to 18 in England and Wales, with effect from 1 October 2007.
[12] The Scottish Parliament made similar changes in section 62 of the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007,[13] also with effect from 1 October 2007.
In 2021, after a man trespassed with a crossbow in Windsor Castle, the Home Secretary ordered a review of the law, with the possibility that it could be tightened.
[14] There are no federal regulations prohibiting ownership or sale of crossbows, however several states have implemented restrictions on criteria such as age or criminal status.
Crossbow use is not allowed in the Red Oak Unit during the archery-only bear season (October 5–11) except for certified hunters with a disability.