Crossbows

This ancient weapon has been around for centuries, and modern iterations of the crossbow are still being made. While bans and restrictions on firearms prevent most citizens from owning a gun, very few authorities restrict the sale of crossbows. Modern versions are often made with synthetic stocks and compound pulley systems to improve the amount of power the crossbow archer can produce.

One major rift within the discipline does exist, however. Bow archers, long fighting for their right to hunt in an exclusive season, often despise crossbows. Bow-hunters consider the crossbow to be a mechanical compensation for lack of skill and an affront to the dedication and perseverance it takes to learn to hunt with a bow.

“Crossbows are not bows.” Crossbows were the next logical generation of archery development recognized as such by medieval scholars and historians, weapons development historians, the Department of Defense, ATF, and FBI. Even the criminal investigation classification and law place crossbows in “archery”. Every group that analyzes the properties and history of crossbows categorize them in “archery” or “bows”. The only group that does not recognize this is the bowhunting community, because of the perceived reduction on their chance of success. In truth the traditional bowhunting equipment is less effective than crossbows. Today’s compound bows are essentially similar to the crossbow in terms of performance and are only different in terms of vertical or horizontal configuration and the locked draw. The crossbow does not have a “rifle stock”. The stock was developed historically from crossbow stocks (chicken or the egg argument) and then adapted to primitive firearms. The crossbow stock is not designed for recoil or the placement of an action; rifle stocks are not designed for horizontal mechanical force loading. Incidentally, the International Bowhunting Organization recently changed the status of the crossbow during competition from exhibition to participation.

The State of Iowa has shown how much influence bowhunting associations can have on state law in terms of demands on administrative and legislative time and effort.

Iowa defines “bow” and “arrow”
The IAC section that deals with bowhunting deer now reads:

" Except for crossbows for persons with certain afflictions of the upper body, as provided in 571 - 15.5(481A), only bows and arrows meeting the following criteria will be permitted for hunting deer.

a. Only longbows, flat bows, recurve bows, compound bows or any combination of these designs that are hand-held and at least 30 inches long will be permitted. The propulsive energy for launching an arrow must derive solely from the bending and recovery of two limbs of the bow.

b. The bow must be hand drawn and held at all parts of the drawing cycle by a single, uninterrupted pulling action using only the muscle power of the shooter' s body until release. Release of the arrow must be by a conscious action of the shooter, either by relaxing tension of the fingers or triggering a hand-held release aid. No portion of the bow' s riser (handle) or any trough, track, channel or other device that attaches directly to the bow' s riser shall contact, support and/or guide the arrow from a point rearward to the bow' s brace height.

c. The following are prohibited: Crossbows; any device with a gun-style stock; any device that holds the bowstring at partial or full draw without the shooter' s muscle power; any device that derives the energy to propel the arrow from a hydraulic, pneumatic or mechanical or similar device other than the mechanical advantage provided by eccentric wheels or cams where energy to propel the arrow comes from the pulling effort of the shooter. Iowa just made traditional bows illegal.


I don' t understand the problem here. There is no gunpowder. There is no difference other than the held draw. What is going to happen when technology advances?? Are we looking that far ahead?