The town council of Deer Trail, Colorado, a settlement “barely more than a wide spot on Interstate 70 about 55 miles east of Denver, population 546,” will consider a proposed ordinance licensing hunters to shoot down drones at its next meeting on August 6.
“’A six-page petition circulated by a resident says that the threat of surveillance from drones — regardless of who is piloting them — is a threat to ‘traditional American ideas of Liberty and Freedom’ enjoyed by Deer Trail’s ‘ranchers, farmers, cowboys and Indians, as well as contemporary citizens.’ Therefore, drone incursions are to be seen as acts of war.” Oh, indeed! And even better, “the Town Clerk Kim Oldfield … [said] that [Phillip] Steel[, who created the petition,] collected ‘way more’ than the signatures needed to bring the idea to a vote in a special election…” Whoa! Deer Trail, here I come!
Mr. Steel said, “State and local governments throughout the country are talking about the fantastic possibilities using unmanned aerial vehicles … It’s time to take a stand against becoming a surveillance society.” Yay, Phil! Our kinda guy!
I encourage you to read the whole article for more details on the best news all year! About the only way to improve this measure is to eliminate the licensing – and true to form, Deer Trail’s politicians expect to make a killing off it (“Because the ordinance doesn’t limit the licenses to only Deer Creek [sic] residents, the town could raise money from people in other states who want the novelty of having an official drone-hunting license”). Here’s hoping municipalities across the country follow Deer Trail’s lead and honor citizens who sabotage these execrable drones as heroes on the order of Ed Snowden. And thanks to Bill Martin for making my day by forwarding this link.
10:38 am on July 17, 2013
