Ascension Parish Man shoots down neighbors drone, says wife felt like it was watched

I remember reading a story about a town proposing a 'drone hunting license', and chuckling, thinking it was a silly idea. I must say, I'm giving this a second thought. In light of the linked article, and a recent story of a man being arrested for shooting down a drone over his property, I think we need to evaluate what rights property owners have in dealing with drones. We should favor the property owner.

There are some concerns where firearms are concerned in populated areas. But you must ask yourself, what's a person to do, other than call the cops, if someone is using a drone to violate the land owner's right to privacy? Sure, you can call the cops, but calling the cops does little to remedy the fact that your rights have already been violated.

I'm pretty sure that I myself would shoot down someone's drone on my property, consequences be damned. And then once the owner showed up, they'd probably have a bad day as well. This wouldn't be necessary in my mind if the law didn't seem to favor drone owner/operators.

http://theadvocate.com/news/13641316-172/ascension-parish-resident-shoots-down

 

that was a good shot with a 22 rifle , since that would be more likely the choice of weapon for squirrels

 

Congress needs to direct the FAA to make rules for drones. IIRC, federal regulations don't allow for RC aircraft to be flown out of line of sight of the operator, that is, the drone operator is not allowed to pilot it via a camera. IMHO, this man had legal justification based on common laws about trespassing to have done this. He already called the cops on the drone operator once. That constitutes a warning, and the next offense was trespassing.

 

Probably a shotty, it's the preferred method.

 

It was either a .22 or a 12-gauge. In the south, we use either one.

 

No state and local governments need to enact laws so the local police can actually do something about it when they get a call. Good luck getting the FAA to do any enforcement when there aren't dead passengers spread about the place.

 

The cops had even contacted him (the drone pilot), yet he wants to act like a victim.

 

over 200 feet a shotgun http://i.imgur.com/vzxwz1e.webm will be out of range with bird shot need a 22

 

True. I find this less about drones and more about having crappy neighbors.

He had already been asked not to fly over his neighbors property, legal or not he should have respected the request.

 

Granny says she don't like drones peekin' inna window when she takin' a bath...

Drone owner calls shooter 'drone slayer'
Sep 13, 2015 - The man who owned a drone shot down by his neighbor calls him a "drone slayer." "Stop telling everybody we was hovering in his yard and in his neighbor's too because it just didn't happen," David Boggs, the owner of the drone said.

See also:

Man charged after shooting down drone
Aug 05, 2015 - A man is facing charges after he used a shotgun to shoot down a drone. Hillview police arrested William H. Merideth, 47, at his home on July 26.

 

Not sure about that neighborhood but a .22 rifle carries quite far and one needs to be cautious about that.

 

I think we need to include this under current peeping tom laws.. as it basically the same thing (worse cause they can make a video of it), it should be a crime

easy to prove what happened, just turn over the recording from the drone before the crash

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people should have to have a license for drones, like driving a car or a plane and they should have a license plate on the bottom so the police can track them back to the owner, these have much risk of abuse

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Yes, we probably are going to have to start looking at jamming equipment.

I'd certainly pay something for the ability to reprogram the drone to land safely next to my metal recycling bin.

 

As a private pilot I absolutely agree with this. These things can fly in the same airspace as airplanes.

The pilot should be required to have a pilot's license as should the drone be licensed, so that airspace violations can be prosecuted.

 

agree, a pilots license for drones, obviously not requiring one to learn how to fly a real plane, different standards, but similar concept

I think the license number on the bottom of the drone would help to report them, thus instead of a shotgun, someone could take a picture for proof and the license number would lead police to the owner

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Good points.

I think we really need to nip the drone issue in the bud. It seemed like a laughing matter not long ago, but it's turning into something which requires serious attention.

 

pointing jamming equipment up in the sky might get one in trouble, definitely would check the legality of that one

 

It sounds like there are two sides to this story. If it was over my house I would shoot it too, but that may not be the case here.

 

yep, now they are getting cheap as a cell phone and anyone could own one, I think they have positive uses, but also can be misused, we just need to make sure the misuse is considered a crime

when I was little I had a friend with a little plane that you had connected to a string, we had to go to the park to use it and had to use it where no people around to get hurt, not sure if was a law, but it made sense and was the rules his parents gave us

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i heard it was a jello shot?

 

For sure, there needs to be consequences which deter people from misuse. Otherwise people will deal with it however they can, and they shouldn't have to pay for dealing with things that law doesn't protect them from.

 

Well a 20 gauge with skeet shot should do it. Not sure how far away the drone was.

 

A combo .410 / .22 rifle. I used to own one.

 

A drone 20' overhead of a mounted horse rider?

Shot down with a rifle? Do you know how far a bullet travels when it's fired on an upward slope?

I think maybe he should have used a shotgun or obtained a judicial order compelling the drone operator not to overfly his property.