Knowing assault rifles can easily substitute longarms.
At least with guns it's the same principles usually, just a different shaped object.
I don't even...
You don't even what? Understand? Clearly you don't. As an archer who shoots regularly and someone who shoots all kinds of guns recreationally I can tell you that a crossbow operates much like a gun (they even make crossbow uppers for ar-15s). Bows do not.
A gun is a single, solid, machine. Point and click. That is an oversimplification, but not by a mile. A bow on the other hand is not solid. The power input is dependent upon the user, and thus the goal is reproducibility. It takes a lot of strength built up over time (with muscles nearly no one uses unless they are an archer) to be able to even pull a bow of sufficient poundage, let alone do it consistently.
A crossbow removes the need to physically draw and hold. You have some kind of assist (crank, pulleys, etc) and a trigger mechanism. Once it is loaded, a crossbow is effectively very similar to a gun. Point and click.