Police detain toothpick crossbow vendor after boy injured

Police in Urumqi, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, detained Sunday a retailer who sold a toothpick crossbow after a 10- year- old boy sustained a severe injury to his right eye.

The vendor, a woman surnamed Guo, will be detained for 10 days for selling the toy to students, the Legal Daily reported. She has removed the other crossbows from her store.

The boy, whose name was not given, was injured on June 19 when his eye was injured by a toothpick fired by one of his friends from the device, his mother Zhang Jun said.

Doctors who treated the boy in The First Affiliated Hospital of Xin- jiang Medical University in Urumqi said his cornea was injured, and he might not regain full vision, even after treatment. He cannot see objects more than 20 centimeters away, news portal xinjiangnet. com. cn reported.

A toothpick crossbow is as big as a palm and is usually made of metal, but is capable of shooting a toothpick up to eight meters away. The dangerous toy, popular among middle and high school students, reportedly has huge force that is able to pierce balloons and beverage cans.

It can be bought for as low as 3 yuan ($ 0.4) in school snack halls. The Global Times found on Sunday that the crossbows were no longer available on shopping site Taobao.

Public security bureaus across China have been cracking down on the trade of the toy, including in Hainan, Sichuan and Zhejiang provinces.

“Businesses and producers might not be given serious punishment as toothpick crossbows are not defined as an illegal possession. It is a gray area,” Wang Hongwei, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Sunday.

“It is regarded as dangerous and prohibited only when those crossbows are sold to students,” he said.

According to the law, anyone who illegally possesses guns, ammunition, bows and daggers will face maximum five days in custody and a 500 yuan fine.