Drone Stakes
Drones were a hot topic on social media back in December with Mass hysteria about spies in the sky, or something stranger. Even RVA Mag got in on the buzz in the air. Piecing together the motivation of the Cybertruck Explosion on New Year's Day has the perpetrator obsessed about drones and other similar conspiracies.
Discussion about drones on social media died down but legislative bodies have not ended this conservation. Virginia Democratic State Senator Mamie Locke introduced her bill on drones over air bases on Monday as the Virginia legislators meet after the water shortage left them dry and delayed the start of the session.
Locke's bill SB 757 would make it a class 4 felony to fly a drone over any contracted defense facility. On hand with Locke to present the bill was corporate lawyer J.B. Perrine from Huntington Ingalls Industries, a shipbuilding company from Newport News. Perrine argued that it was necessary because of a recent event with a Chinese national convicted for only 6 months.
Senator Jennifer Carroll Foy took exception to the proposed law and asked to lower the penalty to a class 6 felony. A class 4 felony carries a prison sentence of 2-10 years while class 6 felon carries a sentence of 1-5 years.
In an article from Wired Magazine, Fengyun Shi, the person convicted of The Espionage Act, is described as a soccer fan, League of Legends gamer, and developer of an app for detecting crop diseases in photos. Whether Shi is a Chinese spy or innocent drone operator, Shi plead guilty last year.
"Given the gravity of what we are talking about here, our national security, and for the deterrent effect." Perrine replied to Senator Carroll Foy's request.
"Legally, flying a drone over an area is as bad as kidnapping, shooting into a vehicle, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, arson, child abuse." Carroll Foy said during the committee hearing.
The committee unanimously approved of the bill to pass its first hurdle in the 45 day legislative session without amending the penalty to be softer. If passed in it's currently form, drone operators could be in jeopardy of multiple years in prison if a local prosecutor believes that the person is attempting to steal classified secrets.
During the meeting Senator Mark Peake requested that Chinese spy balloons be included in the bill. There was laughs from the audience. Peaks was referring to the 2023 Chinese Balloon Incident. The similarities between those two events is that they are topical events that caught much attention but at their conclusions just turned into jokes. However, this event might leave a felony charge in the Code of Virginia for the benefit of defense contractors and have more people sit in prisons.
