Review – HR 1907 Introduced – Private cUAS

Last month Rep Burchett (R,TN) introduced HR 1907, the Defense Against Drones Act of 2025. The bill would allow an individual to use a shot gun to shoot down an unmanned aircraft flying no more than 200 feet over their property. No new funding is authorized by this legislation.

The bill would amend 49 USC by adding a new §44815, Protection of private property from unmanned aircraft.

Moving Forward

Burchett is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which the bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I do not expect that the leadership would be interested in expanding the current, very limited, counter UAS statutes in this manner.

Commentary

While the bill specifically requires continued adherence to State law (but not local regulations?) about discharge of fire arms, it does not address the current prohibition of aircraft piracy (49 USC 46502) or destruction of aircraft (18 USC 32). For this proposed statute to be effective it would require the additions of ‘not withstanding’ language for each of those sections.

 

For more information on the provisions of the bill, as well as an expanded commentary looking at making the language applicable to industrial property, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-1907-introduced - subscription required.