While you may soon be able to use guns to shoot down drones–unlikely, but possible–law makers in Connecticut are currently debating whether you should be able to put a gun on your drone.
Apparently, despite it seeming like an enormously dangerous thing to do, the FAA doesn’t specifically make it illegal for you to arm a drone.
You might be thinking to yourself, ‘what moron is putting a gun on a drone or otherwise weaponizing it?’ Well, to answer your question, this moron.
That moron also gave us this video:
This is why we can’t have nice things.
The problem is that the laws haven’t kept up with the technology, so all current legislation was designed with traditional aircraft in mind. Right now, it’s illegal to arm your regular aircraft, but two bills in the legislature deal with adjusting the wording of the law to include drones and remotely operated aircraft.
The bills are similar, but one reads, ” (a) Except as otherwise provided by law, no person shall operate or use any computer software or other technology, including, but not limited to, an unmanned aerial vehicle, as defined in subdivision (29) of section 15 of the general statutes, as amended by this act, that allows a person, when not physically present, to release tear gas or any like or similar deleterious agent or to remotely control a deadly weapon….”
It’s worth noting that these bills don’t ban law enforcement from weaponizing drones, but they do ensure that civilians won’t be using drones as a vehicle for flying guns or tear gas dispensaries.
This is only the beginning of the debate about regulating drones. Though the FAA launched their registration system earlier this year, and a few different states are debating ways to get rid of pesky drones, the fact that it’s still technically legal to slap a Glock on your quadcopter suggests we’ve got quite a ways to go.
Filed Under: Aerospace + defense