When Is It OK to Shoot Down a Drone?

The following exchange took place between Walter Block and other correspondents:

-----Original Message-----
From.......
Sent: Thu 8/6/2015 4:36 PM
To: Walter Block;  ....... @gmail.com
Subject: Liberty Activists


       Dear Walter:

       

        Meet ........ ....... is a young man who runs an
anarcho-capitalist page on Facebook. His page has just under 10,000
subscribers. He wrote the following to me. He constantly posts
anti-statist articles and thoughts. Perhaps you can chime in on the topic
below. Perhaps, ......., you can put what he wrote on your page?     

        "I have a favor to ask you. I'm not sure if you heard about the
issue where a man shot an $1,800 drone over his property. There's a
big debate over if the guy was justified in shooting him. David Kirk West
is saying he was completely unjustified because he doesn't own the
airspace, lots of ancaps on the thread are saying it's his right
because it's over his property, I'm completely torn on this
issue, and my cousin suggested asking Walter Block...I think it's a good discussion worth having and
I would really like to know what Block thinks of this." -.......
      

        Link:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/31/428156902/dispute-emerges-over-drone-shot-down-by-kentucky-man?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150801


----

-----Original Message-----
From: Walter Block
Sent: Fri 8/7/2015 1:15 PM
To:  .......
Subject: RE: Liberty Activists

Dear  ....... and  .......:

In my view, it depends, crucially, on how high off the ground the drone was when shot. According to this:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0805/When-a-man-shoots-his-neighbor-s-drone-whose-rights-are-violated

"Boggs says the video shows that his drone remained hundreds of feet above Meredith's property."

If so, say, 300 feet or more, then I think the shooter was in the wrong. If only 100 feet, then the shooter was in the right.

Readings on this continuum problem (for which there are no clear solutions):

Block, Walter and William Barnett II. 2008. “Continuums” Journal Etica e Politica / Ethics & Politics, Vol. 1, pp. 151-166, June; http://www2.units.it/~etica/; http://www2.units.it/~etica/2008_1/BLOCKBARNETT.pdf

Rothbard, Murray N. 1982. "Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution," Cato Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring; reprinted in Economics and the Environment: A Reconciliation, Walter E. Block , ed., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1990, pp. 233-279; http://mises.org/story/2120; http://www.mises.org/rothbard/lawproperty.pdf

Also see the chapter on the "Peeping Tom" in this book of mine:

Block, Walter E. 2013. Defending the Undefendable II: Freedom in all realms; Terra Libertas Publishing House;http://store.mises.org/Defending-the-Undefendable-2-P10932.aspx ; http://www.amazon.com/Defending-Undefendable-II-Freedom-Realms/dp/1908089377/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379098357&sr=8-1&keywords=freedom+in+all+realms; http://www.amazon.com/Defending-Undefendable-II-Freedom-Realms/dp/1908089377/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380679730&sr=1-2; isbn: 9781908089373; http://terralibertas.com/products/defending-the-undefendable-ii-freedom-in-all-realms-hardcover; http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/12/robert-wenzel/top-book-picks-of-2013/; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Defending-Undefendable-II-Freedom-Realms/dp/1908089377/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387741833&sr=1-1&keywords=Defending+the+Undefendable+II%3A+Freedom+in+All+Realms; http://www.librarialibertas.com/economie/defending-the-undefendable-ii-freedom-in-all-realms-hardcover.html; http://mises.org/daily/6624/Walter-Block-Is-Still-Defending-the-Undefendable; http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/01/mark-thornton/still-defending-the-undefendable/;http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae17_1_6.pdf
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1908089377


Best regards,

Walter

Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics
Joseph A. Butt, S.J. College of Business
Loyola University New Orleans