It is an offence for a person under the age of 18 to have in his/her possession a crossbow and its component parts (unless they are under the supervision of a person aged 21 or over). This applies to all places not just in public places and also applies to hiring a crossbow.
The legislation only applies to crossbows, which have certain strength (a draw weight of over 1.4 kilograms).
However, even if you are over 18 then there are only limited circumstances when you would be able to possess it without falling foul of the law on offensive weapons.
