Roll Call:  “An army of small drones are heading for the national airspace this holiday season . . . . The flood of new aircraft — and new pilots — is expected as federal officials are preparing to tighten their grip on drone fliers. The Federal Aviation Administration said in October it would require registration of drones . . . . Federal rules already require commercial users to register to fly drones, also known as unmanned aircraft systems. But officials, as well as representatives of the aviation industry, are worried that recreational drone users, including the pajama-clad pilots who might take their drone for a virgin flight on Christmas Day, might not understand the rules behind launching into U.S. airspace.”

CBS Pittsburgh reports that 65-year-old Marti Wlodsarsk “shot” down her neighbor’s drone with a rock.  The neighbor,  Mark Shock, showed the drone’s video of the incident to a judge and won damages of $600 to the $1,300 drone.  The court dismissed the criminal mischief charges that had been filed against Marti.

Future Tense:  “If you shoot at a drone that has strayed onto your property, more often than not you will be arrested and made to reimburse the drone’s owner. Every now and then, though, armed vigilantism pays off. For proof of this, I bring you the case of a Kentucky man named William Merideth—otherwise known as the Drone Slayer.  On July 26, 2015, after his daughter reported seeing a strange drone hovering nearby, Merideth grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun, stepped onto his porch, and fired at the object once it crossed over his property line.

For several laws that could be used against a drone slayer see the The Volokh Conspiracy article on this shoot down. See also WDRB News story.

The Volokh Conspiracy:  “Scarcely a week goes by without a story in the news about drones, whether it is a Senator finding a drone peering in her window, or a small town in Colorado discussing whether to offer drone-hunting licenses (in the end they voted not to). The fear that a drone may be watching you is far from unreasonable. Today’s news, for example, is that up to 20 percent of the Border Patrol predator-drone flight hours take place in the US; meanwhile, in Miami where we both live, the police department has a fleet of drones out on patrol.  This week’s arrest of a man who took a shotgun to an airborne drone is only one of the most recent warnings that we need better legal rules — and better social norms — about drone overflights, and that we need them now both to prevent harm to people and to prevent wrongful shootdowns