What federal crime says that downing a toy quad copter is a FEDERAL crime?
Just curious.
Arthur, I agree with Scott (SafetGuy). I looked into it and the bottom line is; If you shoot down a toy drone today, you have technically committed a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 32. Whether you get charged depends on how serious the situation looks to authorities.
Wow!
By definition, 18 U.S. Code § 32 says it’s a FEDERAL crime for one kid to willfully smash another kids paper airplane.
I guess I did not want to believe that our government was actually that over reaching, petty, and stupid till I read it for myself. That is the way that the law was written. Thanks Scott.
It’s a matter of what is enforced. Shoot down your own drone or RC plane (in a safe manner on your own property) and I doubt anyone would care. Shoot down someone else’s drone and you would certainly have law enforcement asking you some questions…
“It’s a matter of what is enforced.”
You might as well be saying:
“give me the man, and I will find the crime”
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What are you talking about?
Rifles work, shotguns work, bows may be less effective against UAVs.
(Your comment about hunting deer does not make sense. If you are saying you can hunt deer with a shotgun but not a rifle, that’s a bad way to hunt as shotguns are not precise.)
Driving 26 in a 25 zone is illegal, too, but that’s not how enforcement works. Give people a little credit for common sense and judgment: it’s applied all the time. FAA had to decide what was or wasn’t an aircraft, and decided drones qualified. All drones between 250 grams and 55 pounds are treated pretty much the same. Would you think shooting down a 50 pound drone is unacceptable? 40 pounds? 19 pounds? One pound? They have to draw the line somewhere, but I’m pretty sure it’s well above “8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.”
As much as I wish to agree with you Scott, some funky gut feeling tells me, that leaving the term “reasonable force” undefined, is like verbally telling an alligator that you will take its freshly caught chicken and that it is common and expected courtesy for the animal to accept it.
Regardless of weight: Drones which are capable of producing high resolution video and images from sometimes tremendous distances are a menace and nuisance which have opened countless pathways to abuse.
The problem is that a drone in the hands of an idiot is only slightly better than a rifle, gun or bazooka in the hands of an idiot. Now, we all tend to know what happens if we square idiocy…
Expecting common sense or sound judgement from your fellow citizen is no longer feasable in todays day and age. The FAA or Congress, Senate (or the President himself) will only create scientific evidence that every attempt to idiot-proof anything - creates a bigger idiot.
I’ll say it again… let the horses run, let them shoot. Meanwhile, avoid flying over populated areas with your puttputt and count on breathless news about people half a mile away from a drone being hit by a slug, that some out of his skull Floridian with 13 beers in his system felt like firing at something he thought to be filming…
This aint ending well. 
Also, a projectile that HITS a drone, probably also comes down with minimal loss in velocity, in most cases. Most drones are pretty lightweight and flimsy. Might as well be shooting paper targets…
This is the law and I quote:
Rifles and handguns are prohibited for hunting any game
I do not recommend discharging any weapon in an upward direction, or any particular projectile, but, as others have pointed out, it seems like birdshot would have better chances of hitting a drone hundreds of feet above you, though it’s still illegal. I just doubt many could hit one with a rifle with any predictabilty.
This is the law and I quote: Rifles and handguns are prohibited for hunting any game
Fish and Game laws vary all over the country. Currently, it is legal to hunt deer with a rifle in 46 1/2 states (Minnesota is split, Florida is legal.)
Where does the prohibition apply?
NOT in huge areas of the continent where people legally hunt deer.
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The third most densely populated state.
I was speaking more of the FAA doing paper-airplane enforcement than the morons who would consider shooting down a drone. It generally takes a fairly high level of idiocy to attract prosecution, and wadding up a paper airplane ain’t it.
Must be a small state, whereas FL has much forest.
Call police.
(I presume TX has many, unlike some fiefdoms.)
There are systems to determine UAV parameters including where it was launched from or to interfere with its control and command return to operator’s location.
Fire is a concern for shooting UAVs down. One did go down near the LA fires, operator identified from the pieces, charged, jailed.
One did go down near the LA fires,
Sounds like you’re talking about the one that took an air tanker out of service after flying into its wing. I don’t quite see how this relates to:
Fire is a concern for shooting UAVs down.
The third most densely populated state.
…representing around 2% of the population - and Massachusetts doesn’t represent Florida (the state called out in this article) at all.
And yet, in at least some states (including Indiana, where I grew up), you can’t use a rifle to hunt deer. Only shotguns and bows (and possibly handguns - it’s been a while since I live there.) The reason is the “reach” of the various weapons - rifles can reach a LOT farther than shotguns and bows. And loaded with “buck shot” (aptly named), thousands of deer each year are harvested in Indiana.
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