Revised and updated Petition

Based on feedback from multiple sources, we have updated the text of the petition (and corrected some typos) slightly. Please review the update and let us know if you have any feedback. [Revision] Local and state ordinances, restrictions and bans have all but prohibited the use of small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAV) in parks, local preserves, open space areas and other natural settings. The default stance of most, if not all administrative agencies that oversee public park lands, preserves and open space areas is to ban these devices, for no apparent reason other than generally not liking them or for fear of unspecified impacts to public safety or park resources. The underlying issue here is that these inconsistent and discriminatory regulations make as much sense as banning cars, cameras and people from these areas in general. If the various services decided to broadly ban public access to the lands they are entrusted to preserve, imagine the outcry that would result. Yet banning access to a specific set of devices designed to capture the imagery of these lands is somehow tolerated. We are not advocating a complete lack of regulation and understand that appropriate guidelines, in line with those being established by an appropriate federal agency such as the FAA, need to be adopted to assure public safety, mitigate any risk to persons or property and to avoid detracting from the enjoyment of all. We believe that appropriate guidelines be adopted that are in line with FAA rules, that respect the rights of all visitors and that allow for reasonable and equal access for all members of the community. We think it important to remember, it’s our taxes that pay the salaries of these agencies. We are not asking a favor to be allowed to access our communal property. We are not requesting some sort of special accommodation to be able to film the national treasures we all hold in trust and pay to maintain. By what right do any of these agencies take away our access, the public’s access, to public lands, for which they are chartered solely to protect. We are asking that the industry, hobbyists, and anyone interested in preserving the right of public access to public lands and parks to start pushing back on the plethora of bans and restrictions, before we all lose yet another basic right, the right to access the public lands we hold in trust, pay for and that have been set aside for our use. That is why these parks exist, for the good of the public, except apparently, those of us that happen to want to film it using a flying camera. [End of Revision]