Colorado town to consider ordinance creating drone hunting licenses, FAA issues warning

The town board of the small farming town of Deer Trail, Colorado will be voting on an ordinance that would create drone hunting licenses and offer bounties for unmanned aerial vehicles.

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However, the proposed ordinance isn’t sitting well with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who issued a statement last week advising against it.

Under the proposed ordinance, Deer Trail would grant hunting permits to shoot drones. The permits would cost $25 each. 

The ordinance drafted by Deer Trail resident, Phillip Steel states, “The Town of Deer Trail shall issue a reward of $100 to any shooter who presents a valid hunting license and the following identifiable parts of an unmanned aerial vehicle whose markings and configuration are consistent with those used on any similar craft known to be owned or operated by the United States federal government”, according to a KRJH.com report.

In response, the FAA warned people who fire guns at drones are endangering the public and property and could be prosecuted or fined.

The statement from the federal agency states: A drone “hit by gunfire could crash, causing damage to persons or property on the ground, or it could collide with other objects in the air,” the statement said. “Shooting at an unmanned aircraft could result in criminal or civil liability, just as would firing at a manned airplane.”

Steel says he has 28 signatures, about 10 percent of the town’s registered voters. Under Colorado law, that requires local officials to formally consider the proposal at a meeting next month, he said. Town officials would then have the option of adopting the ordinance or putting it on the ballot in an election this fall, he said.

He does acknowledge that the ordinance is mostly symbolic. “I don’t want to live in a surveillance society. I don’t feel like being in a virtual prison,” Steel said. “This is a pre-emptive strike.”

Concerning the FAA statement, Steel says, “The FAA doesn’t have the power to make a law.”