UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a review of the current rules surrounding crossbow ownership following last week's incident with an armed intruder who broke into the grounds of Windsor Castle where the Queen celebrated Christmas.
A Home Office spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday that at Patel's request, the government is "considering options to strengthen controls on crossbows" and that "legislation is in place to deal with those who use them as a weapon".
"Work on this has been ongoing throughout the year, and we keep all relevant laws under review to maintain public safety", the spokesman added.
Right now, anyone over 18 can buy a crossbow in Britain without any regulatory checks or any kind of license.
The Home Office spokesperson's statement comes after the Daily Mail quoted the purported father of the suspected Windsor Castle intruder as saying that "something's gone horribly wrong with our son and we are trying to figure out what".
"We've not had a chance to speak to him but are trying to get him the help he needs. From our perspective, we are going through a difficult time, we are trying to resolve this issue and it's not easy”, the father told the Daily Mail.
Video Allegedly Shows Suspected Windsor Intruder Threatening to Kill Queen
He spoke as the tabloid The Sun obtained a video, in which a masked person wearing a hoodie and holding a crossbow is heard saying with a distorted voice: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I've done and what I will do. I will attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the Royal Family. This is revenge for those who have died in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre", a reference to the deaths of at least 379 people in April of that year, when UK troops fired on an unarmed crowd protesting against the arrest of pro-Indian independence leaders in India's Punjab region.
The person also singles out revenge "for those who have been killed, humiliated, and discriminated on because of their race", identifying himself as "an Indian Sikh, a Sith".
"My name was Jaswant Singh Chail, my name is Darth Jones", the person adds, in an apparent reference to Star Wars.
Given that the name of the purported father of the Windsor incident suspect is Jasbir Singh Chail and that the pre-recorded footage, which is now being assessed by police, was uploaded on Snapchat at 8:06 a.m. on Christmas Day, 24 minutes before the arrest was made inside the royal grounds, speculation is rife that the person in the video may be the suspected Windsor intruder.
Police Nab Alleged Windsor Intruder
The report by the Daily Mail came after police confirmed the arrest of a 19-year-old man from Southampton who was carrying a crossbow within the grounds of Windsor Castle. They said that after undergoing a mental health assessment, the suspect remains in the care of medical professionals.
The police also said that security processes were triggered within moments of the man entering the grounds and that he did not enter any buildings in the Queen's residence located west of London.