I would love to be a cop knocking on his door, he'd have all the money plus plus within 24hours for that repair. What if the Drone crashed as a result of the shot taken.... imagine that it could come down and hit someone on the head.... wow I'd love to be the cop!!
But has anybody actually been sent to prison yet?
Lots of 'could be sent to prison/faces prison sentence' etc but the worst case so far seems to be a fine whilst most of the accused get released without further action. Looking at it from the outside (and from a country where we have worked out that the option to shoot at things rather than discuss it isn't always the best option) It seems the courts/law enforcers really don't care
I have never seen a case where anyone was charged with a federal crime for violating the federal law. I am not going to hold my breath waiting either.
AHHH...and also at that angle would have gone up through the drone....my distance estimate was based on the dumpster but now that I think of it dumpsters, come in different sizes. I tried this ( with out shooting) and either this is a good fish story, the person shooting should be on the Olympic rifle team or he should be buying lottery tickets. Anyway thanks you don't look blindly at some of these stories.
Oh, I don't doubt that a rifle can bring down a drone. In this case I was questioning how little damage there is - the drone is (approx) 50-60 ft above the neighbour (still no dogs in site
) and the only damage is to the camera. I would expect more damage to the camera. wouldn't you?Take the filter off and see if there is any lens damage. It may be just the UV Filter. Looks like a pellet or bb.
If I can add to this, draft a demand letter for the replacement cost of the camera (parts + labor). Give them X number of days to respond to your demand. If they choose not to pay, take him to small claims court. Regardless of what you were doing, that person doesn't have a right to damage your property.
Not with a pellet gun, no. It would be enough to damage the drone, especially that glass. Would need to be a heck of a shot though I will say that.
I'd call police first. If it's a "real" gun, there's even more you might do because in most places it's illegal to discharge a firearm in the city limits, and this looks like it's within. But I'm sure, even if it's an air rifle, there's something illegal about it. I go after the ************. With the help of the authorities, that is. Don't get yourself in trouble.
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Good grief, responses like this (bleh). NRA is a "testosterone response"? Their a lobby group paid for mostly by individual donations (not corporate donations like is often spouted). Though I personally prefer the GOA (which is most definitely paid for with individual donations).
To the OP, as I'm quite likely "the guy next door with all the guns" people often mention I'll give you my 2 cents. You *might* have broken a few FAA guidelines. He mostly likely broke multiple *felonies*. And let me tell you this, any NRA member, "gun toting neighbor" is likely to be *very* concerned *not* to break any felonies (commit a felony, lose your guns). Discharging a firearm in a city/public place (backyard or not). For example, any shot that missed your drone has to land somewhere and I suspect that the landing zone isn't his property or a legal shooting range. And the one I'm not 100% sure about but think would cause him some problems is the fact that according to FAA definition he shot at an aircraft.
So like the others said, contact the police. Stress that your frightened for your mother that this guy is discharging weapons in the direction of her property (because it sounds like he is, regardless if he has it pointed at an elevated angle).
If this was in the country and you were half a mile back "onto" someones property then I could almost excuse this (because he could legally shot on his property and because he's rightly confused about hovering drones "on" his property) but I a city/suburb or densely rural area he can't just be blasting whatever happens to fly by.
Even a hovering drone is going to be an extremely difficult shot at most normal distances (100-200 ft up, a few hundred more feet away) even with a nice optically equipped rifle (due to its size and elevated angle). Second, shooting a rifle at an upward angle is moronic in the extreme, the chances of killing someone accidentally skyrocket (because the bullet will be going fatally fast when it hits the ground).
Based on the photos I suspect it was a shotgun. Plenty of people think shotguns are safe to shoot in places a handgun or rifle are not, and it's much easier to hit an airborn target with one. At enough distance simple bird shot can easily spread out enough that the drone would only catch a pellet or two.
Sorry, but that is one of the things that a shotgun is used for, shooting things in the air and it is very effective. A 12 gauge shotgun at 100-200 feet would not only destroy the camera but the drone body and props would be distroyed. A30 inch circle at 30 yards from a 12 gauge shotgun with 1and 1/8 ounce of number 6 shot with modified choke will have at least 250 pellet holes in it. This WHOLE story reeks of FAKE NEWS, it didn't happen. Go out and fly your drone let this stupid story die.
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