Take action within your own community by passing this local resolution in your town/village/city. The resolution seeks to ban the use of drones from the airspace over cities due to the serious threat that drones present to both our privacy and our safety. If you want to join our team of local leaders working to get the resolution passed in your area, email laura.codepink@gmail to be added to our listserv or to receive additional information. With your help we can limit domestic drone usage all across the country!
ORDINANCE of the City (Town, Village, County)
of________________________________________
PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC AGAINST USE OF UNMANNED AERIAL
VEHICLES (DRONES)
Whereas:
1. United States airspace is the busiest in the world, with up to 87,000 flights per
day, including commercial airliners and freight haulers, air taxis and private
and military aircraft.
2. Unmanned aerial vehicles (referred to in the remainder of this ordinance as
drones) are not now allowed in United States general airspace because of the
threat they present to other aircraft. Under the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 the FAA is
directed to create regulations that will enable drones to fly throughout US
airspace by September 2015.
3. Small drones, 25 pounds or under, are now permitted to fly in general airspace
below 400 feet for the use of police and first responders, with FAA permission.
4. Drones have limitations in “vision” compared to the vision of human pilots, do
not have the same capability to avoid other aircraft as aircraft piloted by
humans, and there has been at least one instance outside the United States of a
drone collision with an aircraft with a human pilot on aboard and as well as a
near miss. These instances occurred in airspace much less crowded than that
of the United States.
5. Drones have at times gotten out of human control, in at least one instance
having to be shot down, and drones are susceptible to having control seized
electronically by unauthorized operators.
6. Drones have the capability of carrying a variety of weapons, including 12-
guage shot guns, tear gas, rubber bullet guns, bombs and missiles, but drones
have significant limitations in identifying specific individuals and groups.
7. Unmanned aerial vehicles have the capability to watch individuals, groups and
populations on a 24-hour basis, following and recording their movements for
days and weeks in an unprecedented way.
8. Unmanned aerial vehicles have the capability to continuously monitor cellphone
and text messaging of individuals, groups and populations.
9. Drones are being developed that will use computerized facial images to target
individuals and, once launched, to operate, autonomously, without further
human involvement, to locate and kill those individuals.
We find therefore that:
Drones present an unreasonable and unacceptable threat to public safety in the air and
to persons and property on the ground in the City of________________________ due to
limitations in drone “vision”, capability to avoid other aircraft and adequate control,
and
Armed drones and surveillance drones present an unreasonable and unacceptable threat
to the rights of individual privacy, freedom of association and assembly, equal protection
and judicial due process in the City of _______________________.
Therefore:
1. Drones are hereby banned from airspace over the City of__________, including drones
in transit. Flying of a drone within the airspace of the City of_____________shall be
considered a gross misdemeanor carrying a penalty of up to one year in jail and a fine not
to exceed $5,000. More than one offense of flying a drone within said airspace will be
considered felonies, with jail time and fines based on the number of violations. (Specifics
on misdemeanor and felony classifications and penalties will vary by locality.)
2. Drones will not be purchased, leased, borrowed, tested or otherwise used by any
agency of the City of_____________________.
_____________
