Lovers of liberty, know they enemy. And know this: while a shotgun can take out a small drone, sometimes, Uncle Sam can afford a LOT of these things. And “real drones” can fly a lot higher. And they can record any attempt to shoot them down. One more thing: when the ACLU is worried, you should be worried. Unless it’s about stand you ground laws . . .

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42 COMMENTS

    • It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Or an expensive camera.
      Screw ’em, just keep shooting until pieces start falling.
      The army be able to afford to fly at 10miles but the po-po can’t . Theirs are much more closer to home.

    • The thing is, the Bill of Rights is mutually reinforcing. The ACLU should get that better, but we shouldn’t ignore that either. An example is the latest AWB proposed here in Washington state. It had a provision for random inspections by law enforcement without a warrant to ensure compliance. That basically killed any chance the bill had for any serious consideration, because it was a bridge too far for even some of the anti-gun people.

      But the point is the Fourth Amendment protects the Second and vice versa, and that applies all across the board. All our Constitutional protections need to be defended or the whole thing can unravel.

  4. AFAIK most drones maintain fairly stable flight patterns. I realize this suggestion would be perfectly at home in a Hollywood movie (Bourne Legacy anyone) but what are the odds of using a highpowered rifle to bring one down?

    (Note; zero experience with rifles here. No ranges in my area will allow me to fire my Mosin-Nagant 😐 )

    • I did manage to shoot a clay pigeon out of the air with an AR. Granted, I couldn’t duplicate the event a second time, but it IS possible. 🙂

    • they shot it with target/bird loads. look at the peppering on the plastic. use a real load on it and then they can boast.

    • Most drones fly at or above 40-50,000 feet. That’s just under 10 miles. I seriously doubt a .50 cal Barret would have that kind of range much less my Winchester .30-06. Of course, there’s larger and smaller drones, but they’d have to fly as low as 600 yards, 1,800 feet, and even then it would be a tough shot. For a comparison, try releasing a helium balloon and shooting it with a .22 rifle (wait until it gains a hundred yards altitude, or you’re cheating) and make sure your bullet doesn’t come down in a populated area. Bullets still kill falling from the apex of their trajectory up in the air.

  5. I’m thinking high end RC plane outfitted with a stripped shotgun action as a ‘cannon’. Load with buck shot, climb to meet the drone, fire when ready.

    I’d also have to ask what ‘destroyed’ means. If a ground attack fighter is grounded behind enemy lines in perfect condition that aircraft is lost. I should think that simply knocking the drone down in such a manner that it can’t get up and leave without assistance is a kill for that drone.

    Small drones have the same issues that early planes and the initial introduction of helicopters faced in combat. Low speed and operating ceiling resulted in them being extremely vulnerable to ground fire. Shooting then down is a given. The larger problem is what it sees before being downed. Such devices are usually used at close range to determine enemy position and strength immediately preceding an assault. I suspect an electronic countermeasure is vastly preferable to actually shooting them down.

    • Unless you are firing it with a long string, ATF considers ANY electronic trigger a machine gun. ( of couse there are always exceptions to the rules, and you already know if you are one )

      • If we are at the point where we are trying to take down government drones, I don’t think it matters what the ATF says.

      • Hmmm… A spear gun? A shark stick? A TASER? Naphtha and phosphorus? A detachable hanging net?

        Possibilities abound.

      • “…ATF considers ANY electronic trigger a machine gun.”

        Uhh, no. No they don’t.

        There are certain types of electronic triggers when fitted to certain types of guns that are automatically considered to be a machine gun – ie the old “gatling gun” ruling from years back. But it isn’t *all*. Electronic triggers on bolt-operated weapons are no issue, and electronic triggers have been used on hardcore Olympic-style competition pistols for years (Morini, Pardini, etc).

        Electronic triggers themselves are not inherently illegal. However, remote triggering by electronic (not direct mechanical) means is. So, long string, hose, stick – legal. Radio remote? Nope.

        When in doubt, just call the NFA division of ATF – 304.616.3500.

  7. The “ACLU is worried” embedded link is broken … it is missing the letter “h” (as in “ttp” rather than “http” as it should be) at the beginning of the URL.

    Sorry for the duplicate post … I didn’t read Chris’ post above stating the same before I posted.

  9. The part where he told us to never shoot at drones had me laughing. If it comes over my property, its coming down on it.

  10. I’d hate to shoot a load of buckshot at a UAV and end up with a Hellfire missile being sent back at me in response. It would be much easier and more effective to use one of those special Rachel Maddow Signature Model .50 Caliber miracle guns. Since one of those babies can shoot down an airliner at 30,000 feet, how hard would it be to knock a Predator out of the sky? Just don’t lead it too much and you’re GTG.

    • How do you shoot women and children? Easy, you just don’t lead them so much! Not relevant , but that’s what I thought of after reading your post.

    • Even though I promote the shooting down of any drone, government or private, I do know it’s not safe nor is it that likely anyone would be able to take one down unless it was moving very slow at a doable distance.
      As to hellfire missiles or any other type of weapon on a drone, that is highly illegal and if a situation happened where someone shot at a drone and it fired back, or a drone crashed and was found to be weaponized, it would create such chaos in media and in our political system it would be the end of all drone use in American airspace. So I welcome that incident.

      • If you think legality means anything to the US government as the NSA/CIA spy on you daily (without a warrant or even cause) directly breaking dozens of laws, I see a steep learning curve ahead of you.

        If you think there would be “outrage” well, perhaps you should check out the average schlub’s reaction to being spied on. There will be armed military drones patrolling the US airspace within the next 5-8 years and the moron class will be happy “because it helps keeps us safe from teh tuurruhrists”. There will be 30K+ drones in the sky under government control in that time frame. If you think they won’t be armed, you have another nasty wake-up call coming.

  12. As much as I despise the whole drones in US skies thing, Im not taking a shotgun to something that is capable of carrying air to ground missles. And as wrong as it would be for thwm to fly armed drones around, I would think if I shot first, they would have the right to shoot back :-\

    • I would think not. Shooting at a drone does not put its operator at risk. That said, they probably would shoot back. I’ll you have to do is watch some wiki leak videos to prove that. Besides they are the us government and have a motto similar to H&K.

      • They can’t shoot back over American airspace. It would be the end of drones in America if it ever happened.

  13. Better decide which kind of drone you are speaking of. The little 4 or 6 bladed helicopter type or a aircraft sized predator or such. The little guys won’t be sending back a hellfire missile. The guys that can carry a hellfire are too high, and too dangerous for small arms attempts. Also, they are stealthy. You would need some military grade AA weapon for them. The little guys are used for surveillance and don’t carry a weapon. Not easy to spot and they can be too high for a shotgun to reach. A model fighter plane with a bang stick might work, or simply drop something on them from above. Jamming their signal would work for the little guys, not for the big guys.

  14. Lets quit playing around!
    Go straight to the Surface to Air missiles!
    hobby rockets and kinetic warheads should do it!

  15. Well except for small helicopter drones some Cops may use for recon in a hold up home. Most government/Military drones fly too high for a shot gun to work. Some one would need FIM-92 SAMs for those.

  17. raise your self some ducks or geese if they can bring down an airliner then can probably do the same to a drone….. now for the training that’s not my specialty but you can always eat the evidence….

    • Can you fit Daffy Duck with a suicide vest and teach him to ram a drone?

      Or train a pigeon to fly above a drone while training a couple strands of hightest fishing line.

  18. I’m sure if they had a good choke in a longer barrel with a good hunting load the quad-copter would have been obliterated.

    Also, as pointed out by others, you probably wouldn’t be able to spot a US drone unassisted. If you see one of those quad copters flying around, its probably a hobbyist, or local PD.

  19. The bigger ones are stand off platforms. They have infrared systems and missile system that can tag you before you know they are there. The littler ones are another story; they are usually line of sight with smaller cameras. Like what you would use to watch deer. It would be easier to find their controllers (think RC pilots) nearby.

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