Man Tased by National Park Ranger for Flying 3-inch Toy Drone in Park

Yahoo technology story

If you’re going to visit a national park, you better leave your drone at home. If you don’t, you might be tased and arrested.

That’s exactly what happened to Travis Sanders when he was caught flying his 3-inch quadcopter to videotape a lava lake at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park late last week.

Remember that a large number of Missing-411 type disappearances occur in national parks. One would think that having drones there would aid in finding people. But for some reason, drones were banned in national parks.

a reply to: lindalinda

Travis left his second amendment rights home. I bet the outcome would be different if he was armed.

Look guys and girls, those national parks belong to you!

They do not belong to public servants.

Take them back!

This is exactly why you have the Second. Just don't sit there, ACT!

P

They can't have you conflicting with their own drone use apparently. Is it more than just the issue of bothering sheep, crash debris and people using them too often at attractions as they claim? Something to hide? I agree in reference to the cases of missing people in National Parks. Though, they have let the use of drones survey in a missing hiker case.

I could be wrong, but I heard that firearms are not allowed in national parks. Were he armed, he'd likely be dead. You cannot win against the largest gang; you have a chance against criminals, but you are branded and dead if you cross these paid killers with force. That is a fact. You are often dead just by a simple encounter, because they might perceive that their 'life was in danger' because you moved, breathed, looked at them the wrong way.

a reply to: pheonix358

# 428

originally posted by: TheWhiteKnight
I could be wrong, but I heard that firearms are not allowed in national parks.

Q. Why do people have firearms in national parks – they never did before?

A. In most national parks, only authorized law enforcement officials have been allowed to carry firearms, but a 2009 federal law made national parks – and national wildlife refuges – generally subject to applicable federal, state, and local firearms laws.


Q. When did this happen?

A. The law was enacted on May 22, 2009, and became effective February 22, 2010.

.gov Source

-Cheers

ETA: Hawaii is the most firearms restricted state I've lived under.

a reply to: TheWhiteKnight




The biggest gang in the US is "We The People"

They just need a little wake up call.

The last time 'We The People" spoke up was a demonstration against further watering down of the second.

Thousands of protestors went to talk with their Reps and they all were armed.

It was the most peaceful demonstration ever. The Police were very polite, even helpful.

YOU must understand who is the biggest gang!

P

originally posted by: pheonix358
a reply to: lindalinda

Travis left his second amendment rights home. I bet the outcome would be different if he was armed.

Look guys and girls, those national parks belong to you!

They do not belong to public servants.

Take them back!

This is exactly why you have the Second. Just don't sit there, ACT!

P

So while breaking park rules, you are suggesting he should have shot the park ranger? Americans are f#cking crazy.
Ps. You and the "terrorists" should get along much better. So similar.

you can't even play with an RC toy without getting arrested in america.
Is there any special building in the area or something like that?

i mean can anyone give me a reason why

Flying a drone in any of the country’s national parks is currently illegal, something Sanders said he didn’t know.

and how did a quadcopter (nothing more than a cool toy) end up being called a drone?
last time i checked drones are armed and can kill people.

that's newspeak for you i guess

a reply to: lindalinda

Shame. Should've been beaten to oblivion, cooked on geysir and fed to bears with his drone as the side dish.

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Tasing is so lame...

Like is usually the case with posts like this you aren't telling an accurate version of what happened but the rule of use the article title I guess didn't give you many options.

As per the story your linked he wasn't tased for flying a drone he was however tased for running away from the Park Ranger who asked him to stop.

It's very easy to find out what is or isn't allowed in National Park's. It takes literally all of 60 seconds to find a list of those items.

originally posted by: opethPA

As per the story your linked he wasn't tased for flying a drone he was however tased for running away from the Park Ranger who asked him to stop.

Any sane person, having told the person to stop and then to have them run away like a naughty schoolboy, would have left it at that. Job done, end of story, no need to pursue or follow up as the event is over.

However, it seems that for those in Law Enforcement, including the Park Services these days, common sense and logic have been replaced with massive superiority complexes, self delusional Judge Dredd complexes and plain old bullying. Escalation is the order of the day, rather than a quiet word and a cheery "have a nice day"!

Did it occur to anyone that there may be valid reasons for banning drones in parks ?

Like:

Preventing the hassling of wildlife - you know people would be buzzing them constantly to get good close-ups.
To protect the privacy of others using the parks.
They are noisy which would be a nuisance to wildlife and people.
The safety of the above.

The 2nd amendment is not so you can fly your drones wherever you want, sorry.

That quadcopter is NOT a drone. It is an R/C aircraft. The difference is that an R/C aircraft is totally controlled by and in sight of it's operator. A drone can operate autonomously out of sight of it's controller. As far as I know DRONES are banned in Federal parks, I can't find anything banning R/C aircraft.

a reply to: JIMC5499

I don't think they let you fly any R/C aircraft in national parks with out a permit to do so. Not sure on land based or water based R/C.

a reply to: pheonix358

Except that in Hawaii, my KY carry permit has no reciprocity, and you need a permit to open carry.

National parks default to the state and local laws concerning possession and carry of firearms, so there's that tidbit.

The good thing is that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled HI's restrictive laws to be unconstitutional, but the restrictive laws are still in effect while the state appeals the ruling.

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
Did it occur to anyone that there may be valid reasons for banning drones in parks ?

Like:

...
To protect the privacy of others using the parks.

Um, national parks are public spaces--there is no expectation to privacy in a public place.

a reply to: TheWhiteKnight

we are the biggest gang. they are small. we just need to come together and do something about the people that have the finance and power to intimidate our gang. we need to come together and get over the intimidation that the bullies keep shoving in our face. We Are The Biggest There are WAY More of Us!

a reply to: Asktheanimals

That reason you stated, I would complete support. But wasn't there a thread on here, not to long ago, about them banning cameras or video in Fed Parks too?

I'll go digging, but that would make it a bit suspicious.

And since when does a park ranger get to taze people, running or not?


(Must have been imagining that other thread, can't find it!)

Here is a map of location you can't fly an R/C aircraft. They point out drone but it really means anything that can fly by remote.

No fly zones

a reply to: opethPA

the rule of use the article title I guess didn't give you many options.

This only applies to Breaking Alternative News.

I don't mind the sensationalist titles (I'm lazy too), but you would think at least the people that respond to threads would read the article.

I don't agree with the law at all, but tough.