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Drones Will Not Be Hunted In Colorado Town

It's going to remain safe for drones in the skies above Deer Trail, Colo.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
/
AP
It's going to remain safe for drones in the skies above Deer Trail, Colo.

You won't be able to fire away at government drones — if any were to fly by — in Deer Trail, Colo.

A proposal to issue $25 drone hunting licenses was rejected Tuesday by voters in the little town about 55 miles east of Denver.

"Of the town's 348 registered voters, 181 cast a ballot," The Denver Post reports, and "73 percent voted against the measure, which had gained national attention" ( including in The Two-Way).

As Denver's 7News writes:

"The idea of hunting the federal's government drones began as one man's symbolic protest against a surveillance society. But other townspeople embraced the idea as possible magnet for tourism — and revenue — in the tiny community of about 550 residents."

It would still have been a federal crime to shoot at any drones.

According to the Post, Deer Trail Mayor Frank Fields "was voted out of office Tuesday, with some residents telling Fox31 News that they believed it was because of his stance in favor of drone hunting."

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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