UK man who threatened drone pilot with a gun awaits sentencing

In a development that will please pilots sick of being harassed by drone-hating antagonists, a man in the UK now awaits sentencing for having brandished a gun while accosting a real estate agent doing aerial work near his home.

The incident occurred on August 22 when a resident since identified as Michael Edwards strode up waving a gun at a real estate agent who’d been doing drone video work of local properties. The footage shows Edwards holding the black pistol he claimed he’d fired in his effort to blast the UAV out of the sky, and ordering the agent to leave the area.

“I was shooting at it… If you do it again, I will fire at it again,” the irate Edwards said in the video, becoming angrier when told that – unlike shooting at flying objects – the agent’s drone flight over the area was legal under UK laws. “I took three shots at it and I missed… If you bring it over my house, I will fire at it.”

At one point he even uses the weapon to try and slap the immobilized craft out of the agent’s hand, provoking a tussle as the video feed cuts out. The drone pilot then took the gun away from Edwards and notified UK police, who later arrested him.

Local media covering the Gloucestershire town of Cirencester, about 80 miles west of London where the encounter took place, reports that during a court hearing last week Edwards pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm in a public place without legal authorization or compelling reason to do so. 

Read: DJI Mavic 3 shot down in North Carolina, local authorities are investigating

That plea was accepted by prosecutors, who could have pressed for what – for some reason – is considered the more serious charge of possessing an imitation firearm to intimidate others with threats of violence. The gun Edwards fired at the drone and wielded in the video was identified as Huntington Beach G10 repeater air pistol.

Gun laws in the UK are very strict – even more so that the nation’s exacting drone regulations. 

Permits for firearm possession are rarely granted, and even then only after thorough police inspections of applicants who must prove they have good reason to possess a gun “on a regular, legitimate basis for work, sport or leisure.” Using even an imitation or air-powered arm to intimidate victims is considered nearly as serious as possessing a real one.

Despite that, as a first-time offender Edwards is being allowed to plead guilty to the lesser offense of unlawful possession, and will likely be sentenced to community service.

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