I just watched a video about an older man in Florida who had one of the drones flying right into his yard. The video did not say how large the drone was, so it might not have been one of the large ones being sighted in the northeast.
He said that the drone let down some sort of a cord into the yard, and he tried to shoot it away, but ot would not leave.
Finallly, he went inside and came back out with his gun and shot at the drone and it pulled up the cord and flew away.
In the video, the police came and they charged him with a felony and said he did $10,000 worth of damage to the drone when he shot at it.
I do not see how he could have been charged with this unless the owner of the drone complained to the police. And I really do not think that he should be charged at all, since the drone was on his property and was obviously doing something with the cord that it lowered down into his yard.
They didn’t charge hom for firing his weapon unsafely, so that part was not an issue, they just charged hom for damaging the drone. I think that an attorney should be able to make that charge go away, since it was on his property and he didn’t know if it was dangerous or not.
As Paul Harvey used to say: " .... and now for the rest of the story.
It turns out that the drone was from a company called DroneUp, which was partnering with Walmart for local deliveries, and even though the drones may cost over $10,000, the damage was said to be about $2,500, which he was ordered to pay.
As for laws and regulations being broken, that's where things get a bit murky. It turns out that even though a person may own a piece of property, they do not own the air space above it. Interestingly, the government claims they own all air space above 400 ft, although I would dearly love to see the deed showing they purchased it (But I digress).
Well, even though a person may not own the space above them, and cannot forbid a drone from flying in it, there are still laws protecting the property owner's privacy, which varies wildly by state or city. In some states, if you can prove something was recorded by one of the electronic buzz-ards, that is deemed private, then you may have a case. However, to do so, you have to first find out who's flying it, and hope they haven't deleted the photos or video before you catch them.
Next, the FAA says that the drone must be kept within line of sight (Which is a bit difficult if you have no proof where the operator was standing), and furthermore, you are not allowed to fly over people or cars, which is a rather ludicrous statute, because anyone flying in a town or city is going to be doing both.
Disturbing the peace, or causing fear or anxiety can be another factor that can cause legal minds to throw their degrees at each other, and I won't even get into discharging firearms in city limits. In some states, that's just good ol' boys havin' fun.
In any case, it's against the law to shoot them down, however, the "president to be" said that's what should be done, so if you're gonna do it, lawyer up.
......... good day
Even odder than some of the threads in the Paranormal section, ya think? 
