I like this idea!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/drone-hunting-colorado-172357477.html
"A small town in Colorado is considering an ordinance that would create a license and bounty for hunters to shoot down drones.
"We do not want drones in town," Phillip Steel, the Deer Trail, Colo., resident who drafted the ordinance, told Denver's ABC7 affiliate. "They fly in town, they get shot down."
Steel's proposal, recently submitted to the town board, calls for a $25 drone hunting license and outlines "rules of engagement" for hunters looking to shoot down the unmanned aerial devices..."
What if the fire department was using a drone to spot a forest fire?
"Even if a tiny percentage of people get online (for a) drone license, that's cool," Boyd said. "That's a lot of money to a small town like us.
Sounds like it's simply an alternative to parking tickets / speed traps.
Shooting down a federal aircraft in legal FAA airspace. It doesn't seem like that would end well.
aircooled wrote:
Sounds like it's simply an alternative to parking tickets / speed traps.
Really? If you don't want to pay the tax, then don't hunt the drones. Gotta be the easiest tax you ever got out of paying.
PHeller
UberDork
7/18/13 11:54 a.m.
What if I'm flying my non-camera equipped R/C airplane? That costs $20,000 dollars...and is my life's work?
It's not like this will pass, or if it does, it will be quickly shot down.
mndsm
PowerDork
7/18/13 11:59 a.m.
z31maniac wrote:
It's not like this will pass, or if it does, it will be quickly shot down.
I see what you did there.
PHeller
UberDork
7/18/13 12:00 p.m.
BOOM that pun dropped quickly.
1988RedT2 wrote:
Really? If you don't want to pay the tax, then don't hunt the drones. Gotta be the easiest tax you ever got out of paying.
No, not a tax, a revenue generator.
It's just a marketing scheme to generate money for the town.
1988RedT2 wrote:
aircooled wrote:
Sounds like it's simply an alternative to parking tickets / speed traps.
Really? If you don't want to pay the tax, then don't hunt the drones. Gotta be the easiest tax you ever got out of paying.
Yup - just like parking tickets and speed traps. Don't want to pay the tax? Then park legally and drive the speed limit. 
My point is that the drone hunting license is purely voluntary, and the purchase of the license grants you certain privileges.
Anyone that "volunteers" for a speeding or parking ticket is probably hoping not to pay, and "buying" a ticket does not grant you the privilege of speeding or illegally parking at any time in the future.
Different!
Sheesh! Trying to be difficult?
aircooled wrote:
No, not a tax, a revenue generator.
I would argue that any "revenue generator" for government is by definition a "tax."
1988RedT2 wrote:
aircooled wrote:
No, not a tax, a revenue generator.
I would argue that any "revenue generator" for government is by definition a "tax."
And your argument would be wrong.
A tax is not voluntary.
This scheme is.
PHeller wrote:
What if I'm flying my non-camera equipped R/C airplane? That costs $20,000 dollars...and is my life's work?
Don't fly it in this one little town in Colorado?
z31maniac wrote:
1988RedT2 wrote:
aircooled wrote:
No, not a tax, a revenue generator.
I would argue that any "revenue generator" for government is by definition a "tax."
And your argument would be wrong.
A tax is not voluntary.
This scheme is.
It's no more voluntary than an excise or sales tax on tires. If you want (new) tires, then you pay the tax. If you want to hunt drones, then you pay the tax. Same thing.
I'm surprised that no one's commented on the terror that this'll generate when you get hundreds of "bounty hunters" shooting up at anything resembling a drone. Also: all those bullets will come down, ya know. Great for killing anything under them. Or this'll create a new class of sadistic fun: buy a helium filled blimp, fly over town and laugh when the handguns and rifles come out.
Besides, I don't think they fly drones low enough for handguns or rifles.
Ah, it got publicity for a little podunk town. Mission accomplished.
beans
Reader
7/18/13 2:02 p.m.
HA! My friend Amanda works for Channel 7. I'll have to call her and ask her about it.
I don't understand how this could in any way be legal/passable, though. Drone hunting? lmao
David S. Wallens wrote:
What if the fire department was using a drone to spot a forest fire?
How DARE you interject sanity and reason into an emotionally charged issue designed to get people's attention to generate revenue.
This is pure mall ninja fantasy.
If you're good enough to take down a real actual predator drone, which is exclusively high power rifle work, damn near impossible, and those bullets do land elsewhere, even if you hit it, you're good enough to get away with it. Those things can pick up a human at 10,000 feet BTW. You more or less need a guided surface-air missile, or a radio jammer strong enough to berk the computer and crash it. There aren't many people who can hit a target that size at 3000 yards, let alone moving, let alone rifles that precise.
SCARR
Reader
7/18/13 2:32 p.m.
DoctorBlade wrote:
I'm surprised that no one's commented on the terror that this'll generate when you get hundreds of "bounty hunters" shooting up at anything resembling a drone. Also: all those bullets will come down, ya know. Great for killing anything under them. Or this'll create a new class of sadistic fun: buy a helium filled blimp, fly over town and laugh when the handguns and rifles come out.
Besides, I don't think they fly drones low enough for handguns or rifles.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Bullet-Fired-in-the-Air-Strikes-Chesterfield-Boy-214371901.html
SCARR
Reader
7/18/13 2:48 p.m.
In reply to Kenny_McCormic:
people don't know that. they will be firing lower powered weapons in the air...handguns even.
yamaha
UberDork
7/18/13 3:11 p.m.
In reply to SCARR:
We've discussed that one already.....also LOL @ using a soviet based tokerev 7.62x25 as the picture for that story.
I'd rather hunt those drones from above.....M2 fiddy's aren't that hard to find if you've already bought a million dollar P51.....
