Can You Shoot Down Drones In MI? What To Know

MICHIGAN — The mysterious drone sightings that have baffled residents of multiple states since mid-November are prompting a universal question: Is it legal to shoot down a drone in Michigan?

Here’s the short answer: It’s not, nor is it legal anywhere in the United States under federal law. Michigan residents who violate federal law face criminal charges, civil penalties or both.

The question was initially raised by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, where multiple sightings of the unmanned aircraft have been frustrating residents for weeks. Last week, Smith urged the Pentagon to authorize use of force to bring down drones after they were spotted tailing a Coast Guard vessel off the Jersey shore.

“Why can’t we bag at least one of these drones and get to the bottom of it?” Smith said.

The Federal Aviation Administration includes drones in its definition of aircraft under the Aircraft Sabotage Act, and it’s a federal offense to damage or destroy it, even if it’s flying over private property. Michigan has its own law, SB 992 // 2016, which includes:

• Prohibits local governments from regulating UAS, except when the regulated drone belongs to the locality.
• Specifically allows commercial drone operation in the state if the operator is authorized by the FAA to operate commercially, and permits hobby operation so long as the operator complies with federal law.
• Prohibits using a drone in a way that interferes with emergency personnel and prohibits the use of a drone to harass an individual, to violate a restraining order, or to capture images in a way that invades an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy.
• Prohibits sex offenders from using a drone to follow, contact, or photograph a person that they are prohibited from contacting.

Another Michigan law prohibits drones in some situations in Michigan state parks and recreation areas.

• The operation of an unmanned aircraft that knowingly and intentionally interferes with department employees and their designees performing official duties.
• The operation of an unmanned aircraft that interferes with search and rescue operations.
• Flying within 100 yards of a cultural or historical site/structure.
• Flying over an occupied beach area, equestrian facility, restroom, open-changing court, or an area subject to an aerial right-of-way.
• Commercial operations that have not been authorized ahead of time through written permission from an authorized representative of the department.

As of Monday, the mysterious drones sightings have not been reported in Michigan. But earlier this year, Detroit was spooked when a drone was spotted hovering over a Green Day concert at Comerica Park. The sighting caused panic and forced the band to stop playing for several minutes.

Political leaders are calling the federal government to deploy high-tech drone hunters using recently declassified technology to help unravel the mystery that has baffled and alarmed residents of the Northeast over the past four weeks.

This weekend, an airport was shut down for about an hour Friday in New York’s Hudson Valley because of drone activity in the airspace. Two men were arrested and accused of operating a drone “dangerously close” to Boston’s Logan International Airport Saturday night. Also, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, was shut down for about four hours late Friday and early Saturday because drones were too close.

“This has gone too far,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement after Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, New York, was shut down. Hochul supports reform legislation strengthening the FAA’s oversight of drones, and extending the same authority to select state and local law enforcement agencies.

In a news conference Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) urged the Department of Homeland Security to deploy high-tech drone hunters using the technology that was initially developed

“If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on,” Schumer said.

The federal government has offered few answers about the mysterious unmanned flights. The Biden administration has come under criticism from President-elect Donald Trump for not dealing with the matter more aggressively.

In a call with reporters Saturday that was organized by the White House, senior officials from the FBI, Pentagon, Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies sought to assure people that the drones are not a national security or public safety threat, or the handiwork of a malicious foreign actor.

The White House has said a review of the reported sightings shows that many of them are actually manned aircraft being flown lawfully, echoing the opinion of officials and drone experts.

The federal Homeland Security Department and FBI also said in a joint statement they have no evidence that the sightings pose “a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”

The White House said there are about 1 million licensed drones in the United States, and an estimated 8,000 in the sky at any given time. Drones are increasingly used by multiple industries, among them agriculture, real estate, construction, insurance and telecommunications. They’re also used in search and rescue operations, disaster response and by law enforcement.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.