FAA: Do NOT shoot down drones or risk fines & jail-time. Whatever happened to Stand Your Ground?

[99th_Monkey]

FAA tells Colorado residents not to shoot at drones or risk fines, jail
Raw Story * By Megan Carpentier * Saturday, July 20, 2013 17:51 EDT

The Federal Aviation Administration responded negatively on Friday to a proposal by the Colorado town of Deer Tail to license hunters to shoot down drones. In a statement, it warned that anyone shooting at either a manner or unmanned aircraft “could result in criminal or civil liability,” according to the Associated Press.

Deer Trail’s own Phillip Steel has already reportedly collected enough signatures to put his proposed drone-shooting measure on the ballot. In the proposal, the town would issue licenses — for a fee — to shoot at drones with shotguns and anyone who turns in a shot-down drone belonging to the United States government would be eligible for a $100 bounty (parts could net successful hunters $25). The drones used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service, which does use them to patrol the border with Mexico, cost around $18 million a piece.

Local officials told KMGH’s Amanda Kost that they didn’t expect anyone to be able to successfully down a drone with a shotgun, but did hope that the licenses would bring in some tourists for the novelty of buying one.

VIDEO AT: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/20/faa-tells-colorado-residents-not-to-shoot-at-drones-or-risk-fines-jail/

[bbinacan]

1. Good question. n/t

[Gman]

2. With a shotgun?

That's no fun if you can't hit it.

[99th_Monkey]

3. I guess "if it flies" = use a shotgun

They're saving their bullets for when the Fed sends in the Robot Warrior Cops

[NutmegYankee]

8. Best choice for firing in the air. The shot has low energy and won't kill people on the ground.

[Gman]

22. When we were younger while dove hunting

And after a few beers we'd shoot up at an angle that would rain the shotgun pellets down on the guys across the field. Obscenities would then be exchanged.

[Zorra]

23. The problem with trying to shoot down a drone with a shotgun

is that a shotgun has low velocity and a short range, and shot or punkinballs don't penetrate metal well.

The best possibility of shooting a drone out of the sky is probably shooting it with several solid point rounds from a 30/06 or larger caliber rifle while it is hovering and comes in close to take pictures of you while you pee off your back porch.

Drones don't look very tasty to me at all; most pest varmints are not good eating. I imagine dead drones would make good conversation pieces as lawn ornaments.

[Gman]

24. I don't care if the drone flew 20' overhead

You're not going to bring it down with a shotgun. Well maybe with a full slug and a high powered load. But it'd be a lucky shot.

[Turbineguy]

4. The drone is standing its ground

in the air.

[wundermaus]

5. A drone is nothing more than a remote controlled missle.

There is no reason whatsoever for a person not to consider a missile within eye sight of being a threat and to take defensive measures.
When I was a kid and law enforcement started flying helicopters all hours of the day and night, it became a threat to privacy and should have been nipped in the bud right then and there. The neighborhood constable has been replaced with helicopters and now with drones. The authorities copy and store all manner of our electronic interactions and monitor our whereabouts with satellites, license plate scanners, and face recognition technologies. One can only imagine what else they do we don't even know about. All this bullshit about terrorists and such is just a smoke screen. Sure we as a nation go sucker punched with 9-11 but given the idiot in charge at the time (not elected - selected by the SCUS), shame on us. What's really going on is this - we, the people of the United States of America are the enemy. Wake up folks. A Coup d'état has already taken place. The elites are running the show now, and we are along for the E ticket ride. Sure, it looks like we are still running things but we are not. The police are quickly becoming militarized. Next come the concentration camps and then the mass extermination / enslavement. Kiss your liberty good-bye. The domestic use of drones are just another nail in liberty's coffin.

[intaglio]

10. OOOOOH! scary drones (tm)

when the vulnerable ones are little more than remote control aircraft and the lethal ones you couldn't hit because they fly at 17,000 feet.

FFS

[wundermaus]

16. Isn't that great!?

A remote controlled judge, jury and executioner all in a neat little package 17 thousand feet up in the air.
Doesn't that give a nice warm, fuzzy feeling?
I feel safer already just thinking about it.
Sure, I'm not doing anything illegal or anything but, hell, that doesn't matter.
It's all remote controlled and with no checks and balances of due process, what could possibly go wrong?
Putz.
See, I can be sarcastic, too. FFS indeed.

[intaglio]

41. We're not talking about Predator drones

Because, unless you support private individuals being allowed SAMs under the 2nd Amendment, you could not shoot them down.

What is being talked about are drones that private individuals and small businesses can and do buy. The sort of "drone" that can go and look at the underpinnings of a bridge or that you could use for wildlife photography. The sort of "drone" that can replace helicopters and be cheaper, safer and more effective at the job.

[geek tragedy]

17. Black helicopters redux. nt

[KoKo]

6. Repugs are happy about that...Just like Penny Pritzger SAILED THROUGH...

as Secretary of Commerce and she was the King Maker for our President. They never saw a Conflict of Interest there...although they Trashed Obama and held off all his Posts in his First Administration. Once Obama "got in line" they are happy to compromise with him on things the Neo-Libs and Neo-Cons who cowered him in his First Administration have a hold over him to pull him ever which way.

Repugs seem to be pretty happy these days with Second Administration.

[intaglio]

7. Hunters shooting down drones ...

The ones the military use that, in certain circumstances can be lethal, private gun owners couldn't hit - they fly too high.

The smaller drones are used for environmental monitoring, pollution control, missing persons searches, private photography, traffic monitoring etc. might be shot down but what would be the point?

[99th_Monkey]

12. I think the "point" is to fucking JUST SAY NO to this wave of new-fangled invasive spy-gadgetry

In other words: "fuck 'em"

[intaglio]

39. How very progressive you are

this wave of new-fangled invasive spy-gadgetry

Do you realise you sound like a cranky neighbour telling those kids to get off his lawn?

Did you bother to even read the second paragraph of my post?

Will you ban all radio controlled aircraft because they might be drones?

Do you object to real-time environmental monitoring?

Are "drones" checking traffic more scary than a helicopter doing the same thing?

What of researchers tracking rare species to aid conservation in a low impact manner?

What of cities, states and nations examining remote or otherwise inaccessible infrastructure?

Are Search and Rescue to be denied another tool to look for survivors disaster?

Or to rapidly restore cellphone services after a disaster to aid emergency services and the public?

Are all of the above to be made less affordable, less effective and in many cases more intrusive because you might be spied upon?

[99th_Monkey]

43. Oh please

You know damn well what I mean, and it's none of the above.

[intaglio]

46. But your blanket condemnation refers to "all of the above"

How is a simple ban of "drones" going to work? Everything in the list I gave could be classed as "spying" and you want us all to "fucking JUST SAY NO".

[99th_Monkey]

47. I reserve the right to feel affronted by Guvmint snooping on citizens

and I won't be bullied with you misleading insinuations.

I'm not advocating shooting down the drones with shotguns, but am
amused by these back-woods dwellers novel approach to it.

I don't know that answer to the "drones-over-America" problem, but
I feel it's definitely a problem that needs some fixing.

Have you gotten your "Zimmerman Drone" yet?

[intaglio]

50. And I reserve the right to rebut fantasy n/t

[MADem]

42. Too late. Most countries have them, and use them.

This map indicated which countries own military drones. Purple indicates the presence of non-lethal drones, while red indicates the presence of lethal drones. Lisa Mahapatra

http://www.ibtimes.com/drones-which-countries-have-them-surveillance-military-operations-map-1264271

There are even more "non-military" drones out and about.

The time to make this complaint was back in the seventies, when the technology was still in its earliest stages.

[99th_Monkey]

44. So the horses are all out of the barn are they? Great.

One more reason we're all fucked;

like I needed one more.

[MADem]

45. The horses have been running free for a decade or more.

You won't corral them.

It is a different world from "the old days." It just is. It doesn't mean you're "fucked," it just means that you won't go through life like Ward Cleaver.

[99th_Monkey]

48. Oh snap! You mean I can't keep my precious illusions ?

of living in a democracy, where working people get paid a fair wage,
and citizens are not being monitored 24/7 by big guvmint?

[MADem]

49. No need to get shirty. Refer to the illustration. Plenty of other people who

"live in democracies" have governments that deploy the things as well.

And I'll bet all those other "big guvmints" aren't terribly interested in you, either.

Not sure if that will please or disappoint, frankly.

And I'm not sure what "a fair wage" has to do with this technology, but grand effort at convolution, there!

[99th_Monkey]

51. Did I get "shirty" ?

I didn't mean it, honest.

[nebenaube]

36. Perhaps they are referring to the smaller ones...

You know, the hummingbird and dragonflies. I'll shoot at 'em in a heartbeat. The property damage a pellet would cause there alone is worth it.

[tridim]

52. I'll give you $10000 if you can shoot down a dragonfly drone with a pellet gun.

Go!

[AllINeedIsCoffee]

9. If they shot back, it could be a good way to get rid of our undesirables, i.e. gun nuts. nt

[Zorra]

28. Or RW trolls. nt

[TheKentuckian]

11. Keep the targets out of the air and there is nothing to shoot at

[99th_Monkey]

13. Yes. There is a legal concept, called "attractive nuisance"

which means it's illegal to knowingly and willfully create (or allow) a situation
that attracts unwanted attention to itself, and ends up actually endangering those
who are so attracted.

[Recursion]

26. Yes, the law says that because of idiots I have to put a fence around my swimming pool

Hopefully we won't let the idiots of the world set the laws for unmanned aviation, too.

[99th_Monkey]

29. Curious children and random off-leash pets are not "idiots"

and you have no right to lure them to an early demise.

[Gravitycollapse]

33. Are you seriously pissed off because you have to fence in your pool?

It's prevent children from drowning.

[Recursion]

34. I am nowhere close to owning a pool, or a house to put it behind

I just find that law irritating on an abstract level.

[pinboy3niner]

14. Just what we need--encouraging people to open fire on aircraft

What could go wrong?

[99th_Monkey]

15. Who's "encouraging" anything?

I think it's a human interest tale of woe,

Painful to see how low we've stooped?

to have flying spy gadgetry in our faces,

for this I did NOT get to VOTE,

not once, ever.

[geek tragedy]

18. Do you think people should shoot at police helicopters?

You didn't vote for those either.

[99th_Monkey]

21. Try as I may, I just can't fit those ugly words (of yours) into my mouth at all

it's not even close.

[geek tragedy]

19. Stupid drunk rednecks bitterly disappointed they can't shoot

at the manifestations of their paranoia.

[Dash87]

20. Bad idea anyways - firing bullets in the air

They have to come down somewhere

[99th_Monkey]

27. They are firing buckshot (like bee-bees), as I read it.

that's what "shotguns" shoot.

[Recursion]

25. Since about 99% of the time they're used for agriculture...

... I'm not sure what people think shooting them down would accomplish.

[99th_Monkey]

30. That's what the all say

"Oh we're just some innocent Ag-drones, please don't shoot us"

But these hicks know better, they know the REAL story behind
these obscene mechanical flying eyeballs.

[tridim]

53. I think they get the Ayn Rand Paul Trophy or something.

[Recursion]

54. I could set up a loudspeaker near an airstrip that just says "Pull!" at random times

That could be interesting...

[tridim]

55. I can pretty much gurantee at least one of these knuckheads will shoot at a small plane...

thinking it's an evil drone that Obama built in the White House basement.

[Zoeisright]

31. And when the shot down drone lands on someone

who is responsible? If that happened to any of my family I'd sue the shit out of the shooter.

[99th_Monkey]

32. That could be a sticky problem, at least potentially.

Nothing to live in a bunker about though, imho.

[DevonRex]

37. Or hits an explosives magazine - of which there are many in that area -

It's gonna be a tragedy. Not funny.

[Jenoch]

35. "Do NOT shoot down drones or risk fines & jail-time. Whatever happened to Stand Your Ground?"

Realldy? Anybody who attempts to shoot down a drone is a maroon.

[Generic Other]

38. 18 million dollars?????

You can buy them at Ebay for 50 bucks! Government procurement. What a joke.

[avaistheone1]

40. k&r