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Deer Trail, Colorado Considers Drone Hunting License and Bounty System

 

Posted on July 18, 2013 by The Editor

Sjekk video her: http://tinyurl.com/nw9gwjd

Residents of Deer Trail, Colo., a small town 60 miles east of Denver, are considering an ordinance to issue hunting licenses for UAS and a bounty system to reward anyone who shoots down or damages an unmanned aerial vehicle.

“They fly in town, they get shot down,” explained Phillip Steel, the Deer Trail resident who drafted the anti-drone ordinance, per Denver’s 7News.

A draft of the anti-drone ordinance, provided by DeerTrailColorado.com, would allow the town to issue an unlimited number of drone-hunting licenses for $25 each, so long as those issuing the licenses follow basic guidlines.

No background checks would be required, and all licenses would be “issued on an anonymous basis.” Additionally, there’s no residency requirement, so long as the hunting occurs within Deer Trail only. The license applicant must also be older than 21 and “able to read and understand English.”

Those who are successful in shooting down or damaging a drone will be rewarded for their marksmanship. Bring in a fuselage or a wing with markings from the U.S. government, and the town will pay you $25. A whole drone? That’s worth $100.

Town leaders acknowledge the ordinance is mostly symbolic, particularly as drone-hunting weapons are restricted to shotguns “12 gauge or smaller.” There’s also no shortage of pesky federal laws standing in their way, even though the measure asserts Deer Trail is “a sovereign political entity” entitled to maintain the security of its airspace.

“It’s all novelty,” Deer Trail Mayor Franks Fields cautioned to 7News, prompting Steel to respond: “To him it’s a novelty, yes. To me, I’m serious.”

The measure will go before the town council at its next meeting, scheduled for August 6.

If they don’t pass it, “I will get my 25 signatures that I need on a petition and will force a special election to pass [it as a] citizen’s initiative,” Steel told the I-70 Scout, a newspaper in Eastern Colorado.

“I am pretty sure the whole thing is [illegal],” he continued, “but I would love to argue that in court.

Source: Huffington Post

FAA Warns Against Shooting Guns at UAS

Posted on July 22, 2013 by The Editor

People who fire guns at UAS are endangering the public and property and could be prosecuted or fined, the Federal Aviation Administration warned.

The FAA released a statement on Friday in response to questions about an ordinance under consideration in the tiny farming community of Deer Trail, Colo., that would encourage hunters to shoot down UAS. The administration reminded the public that it regulates the nation’s airspace, including the airspace over cities and towns.

A UAS “hit by gunfire could crash, causing damage to persons or property on the ground, or it could collide with other objects in the air,” the statement said. “Shooting at an unmanned aircraft could result in criminal or civil liability, just as would firing at a manned airplane.”

Under the proposed ordinance, Deer Trail would grant hunting permits to shoot UAS. The permits would cost $25 each. The town would also encourage UAS hunting by awarding $100 to anyone who presents a valid hunting license and identifiable pieces of a drone that has been shot down.

Deer Trail resident Phillip Steel, 48, author of the proposal, said in an interview that he has 28 signatures on a petition — roughly 10 percent of the town’s registered voters. Under Colorado law, that requires local officials to formally consider the proposal at a meeting next month, he said. Town officials would then have the option of adopting the ordinance or putting it on the ballot in an election this fall, he said.

The proposed ordinance is mostly a symbolic protest against small, civilian drones that are coming into use in the United States, Steel said. He acknowledged that it’s unlikely there are any UAS in use near Deer Trail.

“I don’t want to live in a surveillance society. I don’t feel like being in a virtual prison,” Steel said. “This is a pre-emptive strike.”

He dismissed the FAA’s warning. “The FAA doesn’t have the power to make a law,” he said.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International was concerned enough last year about people threatening to shoot down UAS that it issued a statement warning that such comments were “irresponsible, dangerous and unlawful.”

Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the group, expressed similar concerns Friday, saying that UAS “are being designed to serve the public good….The myriad of important uses will be imperiled if they become targets. … The suggestion that Americans take up arms against unmanned aircraft also endangers citizens on the ground.”