[Archers] crossbow & laws

[Jerry N. Alexandratos]

Hi folks,

Dealla wrote:
 >	   I have lived in AA County for over 12 years, and I had always
 > been led to believe exactly what was sent to you. So..... I went to
 > the AA County Municipal Code web page and did a search.  'Firearms'
 > seem to be, as you said, rifles, handguns, and shotguns.
 > 'weapons' are defined as bows and arrows, bb guns, slingshots and the
 > like.

	I think the distinction between "firearms" and "weapons" might be the 
point causing confusion.  According to what Dealla has found, a crossbow 
as a subset of bows appears to be considered a weapon by county code. 
While it is not legally a firearm, and therefore does not require a gun 
license, it seems to be considered a _weapon_.  As such, it could be 
banned from many public places (schools, parks, recreation centers, 
etc.) according to local law/ ordinance, or even simply not allowed by 
hosting site (University) rules.  I would recommend checking if all 
weapons (not limited to firearms) are banned from the site in question. 
  If so, then see if you can get a waiver _in_writing_ from someone who 
is officially authorized, and/or ask if an unstrung bow would be 
allowed.  If not, then ask if you can bring a completely disassembled 
crossbow in a bag with no hardware (i.e. no screws, etc.) so that you 
can simply use it as a demonstration piece.  You should be okay in this 
case...  You might not get arrested if your crossbow can not hold itself 
together.
	On the other hand, someone supposedly speaking for a University 
Chancellor confused a crossbow (a weapon) with a firearm.  It is not 
important if _they_ said the wrong word, when you could be the one 
getting arrested for carrying a "weapon".  Are you willing to risk this 
kind of misunderstanding?  I am not certain if intelligence or logic is 
required for enforcing or interpreting law, and it certainly seems to be 
lacking in University administration, so this is a real risk.

regards,
Gerasimos Nikides

-- 
Jerry Alexandratos, Technical Laboratory Manager,   alexandr at ncifcrf.gov
Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratory,          tel# 301-846-5335
NCI-Frederick