Airplanes / Aviation, New Jersey, Privacy

Can You Shoot Down Drones?

Hide your kids, hide your wife, these drones are getting everybody.

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I know I sound like I’m wearing a tinfoil hat when I talk about emerging drone law, BUT THEY ARE COMING FOR US. Robots that fly and spy on us are being put in the hands of private citizens. Drone regulations are being written by lobbyists for drone manufacturers and other companies. You’re going to wake up one day, and there’s going to be a drone outside your bedroom window writing you a ticket for sodomy.

I’m not the only one who knows what’s coming. Just take a look at this crazy, gun-toting New Jersey man who shot one down that was flying over his property…

CBS Philly and Popular Science have stories about “Johnny Dronehunter.” Russell J. Percenti (a.k.a. Johnny Dronehunter) has YouTube clips up of him shooting drones for target practice.

This week, Percenti was arrested for shooting down a drone that was flying over his property. Percenti was charged with Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose and Criminal Mischief.

Here’s the thing, the guy who was using the drone admits that he was spying on Percenti’s property:

Investigators say the [drone operator] was taking aerial photographs of his friend’s home, which is under construction.

While doing so, the [operator] told police he heard several gunshots as he simultaneously lost control of the drone.

After retrieving the drone, the resident observed multiple holes in it that were consistent with a shotgun blast.

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I don’t think I’ve ever been on the side of a person who discharged a weapon in a non-lethal situation, but if your jackass neighbor is spying on your property with a remote controlled doohickey, shouldn’t you be allowed to destroy it?

This will likely be a novel case. You can’t destroy harmless property (or chattel) that merely wanders onto your property. But a drone is not harmless. It’s invading your privacy. Using potentially deadly force while not under attack seems excessive, until you remember that drones are used to attack people all the time. Not the drone operated by your neighbor — unless your neighbor is President Obama — but still. Johnny Dronehunter is supposed to just *know* that the flying robot invading his space hasn’t been weaponized by his prying neighbor?

Trust me, I get it, we can’t live in a world where people defend their “airspace” from commercial traffic with shotguns (or rocket launchers). If the neighbor were just a creepy Peeping Tom, Percenti obviously wouldn’t be allowed to discharge a shotgun into his camera. BUT, if Percenti caught the creeper, punched him in the face, and stomped his camera, I doubt he’d be arrested and charged with a crime.

You can’t stomp a Peeping Drone until you get that sucker on the ground, and doing that requires some kind of projectile weapon. Percenti isn’t the Green Arrow. How else was he supposed to stop this invasion of privacy?

Christ, these drones have me defending shotgun-wielding lunatics. Neo, if you’re out there I could use some help.

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Man Shoots Down Drone, Lawyers Scratch Their Heads [Popular Science]
New Jersey Man Accused Of Shooting Down Neighbor’s Remote Control Drone [CBS Philadelphia]

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