Mystery Drones: Can’t Live With ’Em, Can’t Shoot ’Em 

With many unidentified drones flying over major cities in several states in the East and most recently out West, it’s hard to go just about anywhere without them soon becoming the central topic of conversation. And that includes deer camp.

It’s quite likely that many deer camp campfires, just like ours, involved at least one discussion of the drones, including speculation of their likely sinister nature and what best to do about them. And, invariably, the topic turns to the best setup for shooting them out of the sky. (“A 12-gauge with 3-inch magnums ought to do it.” “No, dumbass, they’re out of shotgun range. My old 30-ought-six would work, though.”)

Since I’m writing this story, I feel compelled to weigh in with my thoughts on the matter. It’s my opinion that they are surveillance drones being launched by operatives from a hostile foreign government—probably China—because they know our current government leaders aren’t likely to do anything about it. My second-best guess is that they are being operated by one or more U.S. government law enforcement agencies who surveilling who-knows-what for some purpose we can’t even imagine. (Note: They’re sure not surveilling our southern border, where we could really use them.)

In full disclosure, those are both just wild guesses on my part. I’m no more intelligent about the mystery drones than the next guy, but I feel like I should be able to have an opinion.

Speculation aside, there is one thing that is not just my opinion but a dead certainty: Shooting down a drone, while fun deer camp fodder, is illegal and classified as a serious offense. Drones are considered aircraft by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and damaging or destroying an aircraft violates federal regulations, including the Aircraft Sabotage Act.

Additionally, individuals who shoot down a drone could face felony charges for property damage, reckless endangerment or violating federal law. Such actions are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and large fines under U.S. law.

The latest information, or misinformation, about the drones, came from the federal government on Tuesday in the form of a joint statement from the FBI, FAA, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

“We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and stars mistakenly reported as drones,” the statement said.

As for President-elect Donald Trump, he said he doesn’t know who is operating the drones or what they are doing with them. But he, like me, is not buying the content of that joint statement.

“Our military knows, and our president knows, and for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense,” he said Monday at Mar-a-Lago. “Something strange is going on, and for some reason, they don’t want to tell the people. And they should.”

Interestingly, while federal law forbids shooting down drones, one U.S. senator sees the threat as so serious that he’s calling for someone to start knocking them out of the sky, saying they should be “shot down, if necessary.”

“We should be doing some very urgent intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told whyy.org.

For once, Sen. Blumenthal, an avid gun-ban advocate and Second Amendment hater, actually said something that makes some sense.

Incidentally, along with warnings about not shooting drones,  the FBI is now urging the public not to shine laser pointers at what they believe to be drones after several airplane and helicopter pilots reported being hit in the eyes with lasers pointed at their aircraft.