Fly By Drone Shooting is a BAD Idea

For the last month, Eastern states (predominately), have been fascinated and fearful concerning the (as of yet) unexplained appearance of multiple drones in the sky. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Superman?

Nobody seems to know.

Our government, which of course, is here to help and protect us, has provided a definite “we don’t know” answer to the public, which of course has calmed things down absolutely nowhere. This is a perfect example of our tax dollars at rest.

We in the United States are proud of our fiercely independent nature, proud of our property ownership, and we are ready to exercise our second amendment rights at the drop of a hat, or, these days, the flight of a drone.

But before anybody brings out the shotgun and tries a little skeet shooting at a those unidentified lit up things in the sky that are buzzing around the barn, you’re going to want to know a little Federal Law.

Specifically that Federal Law that we find at 18 USC 32. (For those who haven’t gone to law school, “USC” stands for United States Code). Here’s the part you want to closely read:

18 USC 32

 a)Whoever willfully—

(1) sets fire to, damages, destroys, disables, or wrecks any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States or any civil aircraft used, operated, or employed in interstate, overseas, or foreign air commerce;

(2) places or causes to be placed a destructive device or substance in, upon, or in proximity to, or otherwise makes or causes to be made unworkable or unusable or hazardous to work or use, any such aircraft, or any part or other materials used or intended to be used in connection with the operation of such aircraft, if such placing or causing to be placed or such making or causing to be made is likely to endanger the safety of any such aircraft;

(3) sets fire to, damages, destroys, or disables any air navigation facility, or interferes by force or violence with the operation of such facility, if such fire, damaging, destroying, disabling, or interfering is likely to endanger the safety of any such aircraft in flight;

(4) with the intent to damage, destroy, or disable any such aircraft, sets fire to, damages, destroys, or disables or places a destructive device or substance in, upon, or in proximity to, any appliance or structure, ramp, landing area, property, machine, or apparatus, or any facility or other material used, or intended to be used, in connection with the operation, maintenance, loading, unloading or storage of any such aircraft or any cargo carried or intended to be carried on any such aircraft;

(5) interferes with or disables, with intent to endanger the safety of any person or with a reckless disregard for the safety of human life, anyone engaged in the authorized operation of such aircraft or any air navigation facility aiding in the navigation of any such aircraft;

(6) performs an act of violence against or incapacitates any individual on any such aircraft, if such act of violence or incapacitation is likely to endanger the safety of such aircraft;

(7) communicates information, knowing the information to be false and under circumstances in which such information may reasonably be believed, thereby endangering the safety of any such aircraft in flight; or

(8) attempts or conspires to do anything prohibited under paragraphs (1) through (7) of this subsection; shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years or both.

 That’s not even the whole of the law, but it will serve for our purposes. Since that is a ton of close reading to have to do, I’ll make things a little easier.

 Let’s look at paragraph 1. It states you can’t do naughty things to an aircraft, and a drone is an aircraft. It further states that aircraft has to be flying in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States and it would be handy to know what that jargon means.

The special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States in English means, pursuant to another law found at 49 USC 46501 [2] :

"special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States" includes any of the following aircraft in flight:(A) a civil aircraft of the United States.(B) an aircraft of the armed forces of the United States.(C) another aircraft in the United States.”

So, the aircraft has to be in flight. Drones you see in the sky are in flight. Let’s look at C, and that says “another aircraft in the United States.” That would cover a drone. So in other words, if you see a drone flying around overhead, and you are living in the United States, you are in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, and going back to 18 USC 32 (1) means you can’t shoot the thing down.

But what if you do?

Then we take a look at paragraph 8 of 18 USC 32, and the stupid prize you can win for playing stupid games is twenty years in prison and/or a fine. How much is the fine? Well, it could be about a week’s pay, if you earn $250,000 per week.

Don’t forget, depending upon which state you live in there are likely to be state laws that can put you in jail or the poorhouse if you shoot at a drone. This is on top of the Federal consequences.

As the author of this article worked as an attorney for over forty years, I can tell you that both the cuisine and the medical care in the US Bureau of Prisons is not going to get a five star rating any time soon. It’s the kind of secured gated community you don’t want to live in.

So my advice is don’t shoot at a drone, even if it is over your property and possibly invading your privacy, and don’t point a laser at it either in case what you think is a drone is actually a small manned aircraft.

That can also be a major legal problem.

Maybe, just maybe, the various alphabet organizations in our country that deal with things like intelligence, security and defense will sooner or later turn off CNN for their information, and tell us just what the Hell is going on.

Until then, watch those itchy trigger fingers gentlemen.