Bows are big and you can "defend" with it (imo), so why not add some resistance from Demihumans to the Elite Bow as well? This way it will serve as a shield too. Gravity planned them shield-less, because it's irrelevant in LR, but c'mon, we're in HR now and classes should be balanced.
I agree with Ami. There's Bow and there's Crossbow, and they should both be available as ELITE. 8D