The Federal Aviation Administration in the US warns that shooting down drones is both illegal and dangerous, but a new bill proposed in the Florida Senate could allow property owners to use “reasonable force” to prevent a drone from conducting surveillance. An unnamed bill proposed to the Florida Senate earlier this month seeks to elevate the penalties for drone flight over private property, but also includes a clause that would allow the property owner to interfere with drones violating that law, provided those unmanned aerial vehicles are flying below 500 feet.
Florida is currently an “expectation of privacy” state for drone pilots. An expectation of privacy means that drones cannot fly to view something that isn’t possible to see while standing on the ground of publicly accessible property. For example, flying a drone over someone’s privacy fence is illegal in expectation of privacy states because that area cannot be viewed from the road and therefore has the expectation of privacy. Legislation typically has exceptions, such as for first responders, but drone pilots are largely prohibited from flying over expectation of privacy areas without the property owner’s permission.
The bill being considered by the Florida Senate, however, includes a clause that would allow property owners to “use reasonable force to prohibit a drone from conducting surveillance in violation of this paragraph, if such a drone is operating under 500 feet over such property.” (Current FAA regulations prohibit drone flight above 400 feet from the ground or from the top of a building without prior authorization.)
As Gizmodo points out, the bill fails to define what “reasonable force” means. Some may assume, as many did during the panic surrounding the unidentified drones in New Jersey, that shooting at the drone would be “reasonable force.” However, the FAA has previously warned that shooting at a drone is not only illegal but unsafe, stating that the drone could then crash and injure a person or property on the ground.
The bill also makes flying a drone over private property with a reasonable expectation of privacy a third-degree felony. None of those regulations applies to state agencies, political divisions or law enforcement.
The bill has now made it through a first reading, with a second reading placed on the calendar. If the bill passes, the proposed effective date would be October 1, 2025.
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