F5Chaser

Call me crazy on this one. Is it a matter of time when our beloved Congress!!!! will get involved after watching the amazing video from the OK chase, great catch guys. I heard some of local TV weather people stating that the chasers who caught the Tornado yesterday where to close and eventually someone will end up getting hurt or worse...killed. I know we have discussed this topic on this site before about getting to close to get the best shot and so on, my gut feeling tells me that someone out there will take it upon themselves to tell us we should not do this. They will argue that someone has to keep us safe and the best people to do that is our lawmakers!!!!! It is just a matter of time before some nanny state tree hugger gets there way and chasing will be a thing of the past, mark my word on this one. It would be nice to go back to the simple way of life, but those days are long over now that we have everyone taking care of us, and I'm worse off now than I was in the past. Keep up the great chasing everyone, get it while it last....

I honestly don't know what to expect. I could definitely see some stupid nanny state lawmaker trying to do this....I mean if I can get a ticket for not wearing MY seat belt, anything is possible (I personally always wear my seat belt, but it still infuriates me that they can actually give you a ticket for doing something that only endangers yourself).

I think it would be a hard sell though. How would you regulate such a thing? Is anyone caught driving near a tornado subject to a fine then? How many times do we see the oblivious public driving brutally close and not even knowing they're in danger?

Or maybe you only get ticketed if you are close to a tornado and have a camera...but what if you're just a storm photographer and you didn't mean to get that close?

And I don't really think a cop is going to pull you over with a tornado just a mile away.....he's got much more important duties at that point than issuing you a ticket for being "stupid" for chasing. They might tell you to move for your own safety, but going through the formality of issuing a ticket just isn't realistic I don't think.

So yeah, I can definitely see some "hero" legislator trying to protect us from ourselves, but I think the details of such a law would cripple it.

There's no way something like this could be enforced by law enforcement even if Congress somehow passes a law. When severe weather is in the area, I'm guessing there's enough emergency related matters (damage, injuries, etc.) going on for this to be a real high priority.

JacobT wrote:
I honestly don't know what to expect. I could definitely see some stupid nanny state lawmaker trying to do this....I mean if I can get a ticket for not wearing MY seat belt, anything is possible (I personally always wear my seat belt, but it still infuriates me that they can actually give you a ticket for doing something that only endangers yourself).

I think it would be a hard sell though. How would you regulate such a thing? Is anyone caught driving near a tornado subject to a fine then? How many times do we see the oblivious public driving brutally close and not even knowing they're in danger?

Or maybe you only get ticketed if you are close to a tornado and have a camera...but what if you're just a storm photographer and you didn't mean to get that close?

And I don't really think a cop is going to pull you over with a tornado just a mile away.....he's got much more important duties at that point than issuing you a ticket for being "stupid" for chasing. They might tell you to move for your own safety, but going through the formality of issuing a ticket just isn't realistic I don't think.

So yeah, I can definitely see some "hero" legislator trying to protect us from ourselves, but I think the details of such a law would cripple it.

Jacob -

I can assure you, cops can and DO pull people over, with a tornado rather close....under 3 miles away. I can speak to this from personal experience.

this thread has the potential to go downhill fast.

I think it would be nearly impossible to regulate chasing. I just don't see how it would be possible to enforce any laws.

Nothing is impossible the way this country is going today.If they make laws on telling what to drink, not to smoke, what kind of car to drive because it leads to fake Global warming and all the while I watch 747's take off daily that spew more crap in the air as they take off than my honda civic puts out in 5 years.All in all its just a matter of time before someone tells us its bad for us.By the way put down that beer and hamburger, its bad for your body.

"I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness... from the exercise of power over others."
Thomas Jefferson

Skateboarding.. ahem... chasing isn't a crime!



The 19th and 21st Amendments to the Constitution say a lot about the American way. Although that was a long time ago, I'd still like to believe "the people" still exist and the will to bite back if the balance between the people and their government gets too lopsided. I would agree that "feature creep" is very prevalent at every level of government today. To be optimistic though, you only get feature creep when you start off with something that works great.

I hate to talk politics on this site, but you can't just ignore all the premonition either. If this ever did go any farther than the stray mumblings, the next logical step would be to form a strong national association to get a clear and concise voice in D.C. If this hobby continues to grow, it's my vote that this will be inevitable.

JeffB wrote:
Nothing is impossible the way this country is going today.If they make laws on telling what to drink, not to smoke, what kind of car to drive because it leads to fake Global warming and all the while I watch 747's take off daily that spew more crap in the air as they take off than my honda civic puts out in 5 years.All in all its just a matter of time before someone tells us its bad for us.By the way put down that beer and hamburger, its bad for your body.


I personally think this post crossed the line by quite a bit... But it won't be possible to legislate storm chasing. And, as long as we all continue to call out those who do stupid things, we will be fine.