Petition encourages shooting down drones

A petition in the small town of Deer Trail, Colo., calls for an ordinance that would grant hunting privileges for shooting down unmanned drone aircraft.

According to the petition by Deer Trail resident Phillip Steel, 48, hunters could purchase $25 permits under the ordinance allowing them to shoot down drones. Furthermore, in an effort to encourage drone hunting, the town would award $100 to qualified hunters with evidence of a downed drone.

Steel reportedly got enough signatures on his petition — 28, or about 10 percent of the town’s registered voters — to move to the next legal step. Under Colorado law, local officials must now either formally consider the petition at their next meeting or put it on the ballot in this fall’s election.

Steel acknowledged that his petition was mostly symbolic as a protest against the growing use of unmanned drone aircraft in the U.S. He said he didn’t want to live in a “surveillance society” and the petition was a “pre-emptive strike.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration warned publicly that anyone who shot down a drone could be prosecuted or fined “just as would firing at a manned airplane.” The FAA said a drone that crashed after being shot could injure people or cause property damage.