shoot the damn things down and charge the owners if they can find them...

But private citizens shouldn't have them. Obviously people abuse the privilege and the technology. They need to be limited to official uses only. I hate saying that.

But people can die because of these asswipes.

at a disaster site are very easy for the authorities to spot.

flying in the area which hindered the firefighters. whow. This is serious.

I can imagine amateurs getting their kicks, and amateurs thinking they could sell the footage to news organizations, and amateurs thinking they'll have their 15 minutes of fame on social media.

I have a hard time imagining, for instance, a local or national news team pulling this stunt, and certainly no fire department or law enforcement group.

But I can sure imagine amateurs being blissful idiots, right up until a water-dropping helicopter gets a drone tangled in its rotors and all aboard are killed, not to mention lost lives and property on the ground because the copter pilots had to take a break.

To say I am not amused would be an understatement of massive proportions. I am a Californian.

... but these drones may be used by professional reporters or professional paparazzi trying to scoop the story.

Possibly amateur blissful idiots, but FIVE of them? I'd guess unlikely.

with reviewing news pages, blogs, etc for imagery that can be compared with what came from the allowed helicopters. Any images that don't match the 'official' feed could require some explaining...

The only responsible folks who don't ever have their fun ruined by idiots are gun owners.

It's not fair.

Why the hell are there no constitutional protections for people who fly drones?

it was firing. whow. dangerous.

A little drone is possibly equivalent to a little bird strike. Plenty of little birds and large insects get shredded through aircraft props and turbines without any notice. Maybe the FAA should feed some little drones to prop and jet engines in wind tunnel tests to see what happens. They could fire a few against cockpit windows too. Then they could set limits for drones any idiot can purchase without a license.

Yet guns are sacred. Too many idiots have them.

...unless private citizens using those damn things are reined in.

I'm really surprised that nobody died in the opening minutes of this latest fire.

Because, yanno, FREEDUMB.

Who didn’t see this coming? Peoples lack of foresight is amazing to me sometimes.

If you fly a quadcopter or RC aircraft in a way that prevents emergency personnel from responding to criminal, fire, or health emergencies, you should be facing serious criminal repercussions. As in mandatory federal prison time.

And, by the way, that drone mounted gun is already illegal in 25 states, because 25 states ALREADY have laws on the books making it a felony to operate any firearm by remote control. The fact that it's on a quadcopter is irrelevant to the law.

a firefighter can utilize so the drone's engines are cut off and it falls down lie a rock. The drone can be programmed to not fly if the kill switch is deactivated

That will stop this nonsense forever.

They tend to see themselves as beyond regulation (sic). Hence the dangerous flight tactics such as flying above one of the fire planes.

I say there is never a rock handy when you need one. Flight rules should treat these just as they do other civilian aircraft requiring ID markings and radio ID signals, along with appropriate licensing and liability insurance for owners and pilots.