It’s different depending on the municipality. Your initial statement is not exclusively true of every inch of land in the US. Furthermore any illegality is limited to what any small police department can actually do about it.
I'm pretty sure it's the FAA that dictates that one. It's federally illegal.
And how motivated are they? Well I'm assuming someone will complain that you shot down their drone. And most police are very interested in firearm crimes.
The FAA is also very interested in people who shoot at aircraft of any kind.
It hasn’t been proven that drones aren’t fair game. So go ahead and down vote me for noticing this, but just because the FAA says the airspace is for any aircraft doesn’t mean I can’t shoot down your drone on my property in rural Nebraska and get away with it.
It will be on the feds to pursue a low level crime not worth their time. Until it’s proven you can’t shoot down a spy drone, then you can shoot down a spy drone. How do I know it’s not some Chinese spy drone? I’m just doing my part to protect my country.
The FAA will -absolutely- charge you with a federal crime if the attack on aircraft infrastructure is reported to them.
Now, presumably, someone flying a drone that would actually report such a thing would also be following the relevant FAA regulations regarding being a licensed pilot and operating within the legal framework of drone operations, and they would likely also have video evidence making it easy to prosecute the felon in question.
The FAA takes drone operations with equal seriousness as private aircraft operations, and drones and pilots must be licensed by the FAA unless they weigh under 250 grams.
It was the Wild West. It’s not anymore. FAA inspectors are notoriously bored and will pursue any case they think they can win, especially when it comes to actions against aviation infrastructure.
If you fly a drone illegally you can face federal fines up to $75000. But shooting one down is an actual federal crime punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment and very punitive fines.
Now under 250 grams (and unregistered)? Idk if the FAA would get involved. But the drone owner might take you to small claims court, and assuming they were operating within the law you would very likely lose.
But if it’s got an N-Number and you shoot it down, I would prepare to get my door knocked down. Its like the ATF, It’s not so much a matter of how much they care, it’s more a matter of asserting their jurisdiction and control. It’s an easy win against someone who used a firearm to destroy a federally registered aircraft.
But, IANAL, if you decide to try it out let me know how that goes for you.
>It’s different depending on the municipality. Your initial statement is not exclusively true of every inch of land in the US.
Please enlighten me where in the US you could legally shoot down someone else's drones.
>Furthermore any illegality is limited to what any small police department can actually do about it.
If you're interested in protecting your privacy, why would it ever be a good idea to commit a bunch of felonies, by illegally discharging firearms to take down cameras? Even if you somehow didn't get caught, you're painting a big target on your back by committing all those crimes and putting everyone in the area on edge.
18 U.S. Code § 32 makes it specifically illegal to damage or interfere with the operation of aircraft.
The FAA takes this quite seriously, as not taking it seriously compromises their position of being able to regulate drones per se. Lax enforcement of protection of drones as aircraft is a potential legal argument that efforts to regulate drone activity outside of the scope of interference with manned aircraft are similarly deprecated in importance and legitimacy.
So you agree, I can shoot down a drone over my property and make an argument to get away with it and there isn’t enough legal reason or capital to pursue. There may come a day where I would get in trouble but I think right now spies are smart enough not to mass surveil with drones.
Also it's not drones that are an issue. It's ring cameras and car cameras and CCTV cameras.