Is it Legal to Shoot Down a Drone?

[CadrePilot]

so you can't shoot at a drone but you can grab it?

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Interesting point. He did interfere with the flight of an aircraft. The counter would be that said aircraft was posing a hazard and he took control of it to eliminate the hazard.

 

[Bad Santa]

Interesting point. He did interfere with the flight of an aircraft. The counter would be that said aircraft was posing a hazard and he took control of it to eliminate the hazard.

And it was flying illegally.

 

[ravenflight]

Funny how everyone will explain what's written on paper but nobody will talk about what happens in real life.

I think everyone knows citizens can't shoot at something unless it's in self-defense. The real question being asked is what are you going to do about it if I shoot at a drone? Then you have a different answer.

The reason why this question continues to be asked is because this is the formula for a disaster which is often never enforced. Most people cannot hit a drone so they end up "shooting at a drone" instead of "shot a drone down." In that case, IMO the federal law certainly isn't going to do anything about "shooting at a drone" and I hate to say it but in most places where people have guns where they shoot at stuff, the local law isn't going to do anything about "shooting at a drone." Shooting up in the air is a myth, all guns that fire a projectile "shoot into the air" regardless of what they are pointing at.

So problem solved, you don't want a drone over your property, shoot at it (don't hit it) and the drone will run and won't come back. IMO still not legal but I bet it happens 100 times more than we think in some places.

Think about it, nobody asks (and repeatedly keep asking) if you can shoot at a car parked across the street watching your house. Because if you do, you'll find out (unlike with a drone).

Shooting a bullet through the air is obviously not what anyone is talking about it. If you're going to be pedantic like that, I could just as easily take apart your response by saying that shooting up into the air is not a myth; it's well known that guns are perfectly capable of doing this. But we all know what you mean, just like you knew what was meant.

That said, it IS illegal to shoot up into the air. Reason being that what goes up must come down and the bullet/shot could potentially come down on someone or someone's property. It's reckless endangerment. And further, shooting AT a drone but not hitting it is very unlikely to scare the drone away. The pedantic answer would be because drones don't have feelings and can't be scared but the real reason is that the drone operator is very unlikely to know you are shooting at it unless he happens to be looking at you when you do it. All that to say, just don't shoot at drones. If it's close enough to you or your pets to be a real hazard, grab a hose and start spraying it. If you can't hit it with a hose then it's not close enough to be considered a legitimate threat anyway.

 

[hank970]

Why would they fly it low enough for a shotgun to be able to reach it? Not very bright in my opinion.

If the drone is hovering I don’t see how it would be hard to down it with most any rifle if a person is a decent marksman.

No I don’t condone shooting a drone out of the sky! It is a federal crime and needs to remain so.

A bit of trigonometry, which involved calculating some tangents:

My Air 3 measures about 15 inches diagonally from motor to motor and about 22 inches diagonally across the outer arcs of its propellors when they're rotating. Most of those 22 inches, however, consist of rather skinny arms and rotating propellors, rather elusive or ephemeral targets. Most of the mass of the drone is centered on its body, which measures about 7.5 inches long by 3 inches wide. At an altitude of 400 feet, an object 22 inches across subtends 16 minutes of angle (MOA) -- about 1/4-degree. But the body of the drone at that altitude would present a target that's only about 2 MOA by about 6 MOA. There are probably more than a few off-the-shelf rifles which, in the right hands, and shooting from a bench rest, are capable of 2 MOA accuracy. But shooting off-hand at a target that size which is directly overhead would be extremely awkward, even for a contortionist. For the best chance of hitting something directly overhead, I think a marksman would have to be lying on his back and aiming upward from that position. If the target is moving, it would be even more difficult to hit. On the other hand, there's dumb luck.

At lower altitudes, of course, the target would loom larger in the sights and would be easier to hit. No doubt Chuck Connors could have done it firing from the hip with his eyes closed.

How about another thought exercise? Excluding wind-drift, what are the chances that a bullet traveling straight up and then falling straight down would come back to hit the shooter? Would the probability be more or less likely than hitting a drone?

 

[Cafguy]

Interesting point. He did interfere with the flight of an aircraft. The counter would be that said aircraft was posing a hazard and he took control of it to eliminate the hazard.

Who is he? My guess is someone with no authority to interfere with the flight. Illegal or not, trying to "grab" the Drone could end up doing more harm than good! especially when you have no clue as to what you are doing. Note all the guys around him offering to throw a towel on the drone when all he has to do is tilt it.
He could have easily caused an injury himself as the drone was probably throttling up to keep its original position. It could have flown out of his hands at high speed and struck someone. He should get a violation on that fact alone!

 

[mavic3usa]

Here's a comment from the thread but we'll never know for sure either way.

Everyone is a cop these days so make sure you tell the bat boys not to try to destroy the drones flying around the property because they believe it's illegal and it's their "job" to do something about it including using a bat if they have to.

"I was at the game, and the word was it was a broadcast drone or someone authorized to document the event. I don't think it was just some random. There was actually a couple drones around all game for crowd shots. They are using drones for a lot of broadcasts now, Levi's Stadium has a dedicated crowd shot drone since last season.

Could be wrong but that was word in the stadium."

 

[danimetro4]

Discharging a firearm into the sky is illegal in most places unless legally hunting for game (where permitted).

 

[tstr14]

Discharging a firearm into the sky is illegal in most places unless legally hunting for game (where permitted).

I thought just owning a gun in England was illegal, let alone actually shooting one. At least for the common folk.