Drones for Everyone?

NYT columnist Maureen Dowd quotes a technology writer as he ponders the future of drones:

“Are Google’s drones going to be watching while Amazon’s drones deliver my packages? How will we distinguish the drones with cameras from the drones with cameras and guns? How long before the N.R.A. insists on the rights of drones to bear arms? The Constitution says people have a right to bear arms. And the Supreme Court says that corporations are people. Do the math.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/op...f=opinion&_r=0


So how do gun-bearing libertarians react to these questions? Should anyone be free to purchase a drone? Should they be allowed to own armed drones? Does the Second Amendment apply here? Who manages the air space? Can you prohibit drones from flying over your own property?

All good questions.

Keep in mind, our Bill of Rights is really designed to protect citizens against an over reaching Government, not over reaching corporations and private citizens.

The new Si Fi thriller will be THE DRONE WARS..

You can already buy drones on Amazon.

But will a drone deliver your drone?

So how do gun-bearing libertarians react to these questions? Should anyone be free to purchase a drone? Yes Should they be allowed to own armed drones? No Does the Second Amendment apply here? No Who manages the air space? Same people who do now. Can you prohibit drones from flying over your own property? No Originally Posted by lustylad

My take on the drone questions above.

Most of us haven't thought this through. I don't think anyone will be able to buy a Predator or Global Hawk, but how about a small civilian model that carries a weapon? Maybe a rancher might want to buy one to use against coyotes. Should they be as freely available as guns? Is anyone comfortable with the idea of drones that can fly over your home and pick up thermal body heat telling the drone operator if anyone is there? Swat teams love the idea. I can see a good market for burglars and hit men too...

Most of us haven't thought this through. I don't think anyone will be able to buy a Predator or Global Hawk, but how about a small civilian model that carries a weapon? Maybe a rancher might want to buy one to use against coyotes. Should they be as freely available as guns? Is anyone comfortable with the idea of drones that can fly over your home and pick up thermal body heat telling the drone operator if anyone is there? Swat teams love the idea. I can see a good market for burglars and hit men too... Originally Posted by lustylad

Most of us don't need to think it through.

You can't - and shouldn't be allowed to - arm a drone for pretty much the same reason that you cannot set lethal booby traps on even your own property.

Before any of you dimwits chime in, do some legal research.

Your property rights do NOT give you the right to - for example - booby trap your front door with a shotgun that blasts someone's leg off if they enter when you are not home. Or even if you are home.

There are too many situations where an innocent person may enter your home without permission - a stranded person looking for shelter or running from a rapist, a cop or firefighter responding to an emergency, a family member or friend entering your house for a benign reason, etc.

The law expects you to maintain control over your weapon.

In the case of a drone, you are putting your weapon out of your control - for what reason? To remotely kill someone else?

What happens if your drone malfunctions and crashes. Anyone who finds it now has a weapon that cannot be traced to them

The benefits are negligibly small and the potential harms are great. So, no, I can't see any constitutional right to do this.

Most of us don't need to think it through.

You can't - and shouldn't be allowed to - arm a drone for pretty much the same reason that you cannot set lethal booby traps on even your own property.

Before any of you dimwit chime in, do some legal research.

Your property rights do NOT give you the right to - for example - booby trap your front door with a shotgun that blasts someones leg off when they enter when you are not home. Or even if you are home.

There are too many situations where an innocent person may enter your home without permission - a stranded person looking for shelter or running from a rapist, a cop or firefighter responding to an emergency, a family member or friend entering your house for a benigh reason, etc.

The law expects you to maintain control over your weapon.

In the case of a drone, you are putting your weapon out of your control - for what reason? To remotely kill someone else?

What happens if your drone malfunctions and crashes. Anyone who finds it now has a weapon that cannot be traced to them

The benefits are negligibly small and the potential harms are great. So, no, I can't see any constitutional right to do this. Originally Posted by ExNYer

but there's thermal imaging ... how else will anyone know you're home ?

Most of us haven't thought this through. I don't think anyone will be able to buy a Predator or Global Hawk, but how about a small civilian model that carries a weapon? Maybe a rancher might want to buy one to use against coyotes. Should they be as freely available as guns? Is anyone comfortable with the idea of drones that can fly over your home and pick up thermal body heat telling the drone operator if anyone is there? Swat teams love the idea. I can see a good market for burglars and hit men too... Originally Posted by lustylad

Do you think a civilian could buy an armed drone? What company would risk the liability of selling armed drones to civilians for any reason. Or worse. Cartels, terrorists, any number of crazies.
Could someone buy a drone and arm it? Not legally but of course it could be armed.
There have been RC (remote/radio controlled) aircraft for over 30 years. You know, drones. They have carried cameras and other equipment the whole time.

Do you think a civilian could buy an armed drone? What company would risk the liability of selling armed drones to civilians for any reason. Or worse. Cartels, terrorists, any number of crazies.
Could someone buy a drone and arm it? Not legally but of course it could be armed.
There have been RC (remote/radio controlled) aircraft for over 30 years. You know, drones. They have carried cameras and other equipment the whole time. Originally Posted by Munchmasterman

yeah but "drone" sounds more dramatic to the mouthbreathers

Do you think a civilian could buy an armed drone? What company would risk the liability of selling armed drones to civilians for any reason. Or worse. Cartels, terrorists, any number of crazies.
Could someone buy a drone and arm it? Not legally but of course it could be armed.
There have been RC (remote/radio controlled) aircraft for over 30 years. You know, drones. They have carried cameras and other equipment the whole time. Originally Posted by Munchmasterman

While I sympathize with your point, the statement about this stuff being around for 30 years is not quite accurate.

Realistically, it wasn't until the last 5 years or so that the electronics for remote guidance controls for hovering drones, and steerable digital cameras got so small, so lightweight, so reliable, so accurate, and - perhaps most important - so cheap, that widespread drone use became a realistic threat.

While I sympathize with your point, the statement about this stuff being around for 30 years is not quite accurate.

Realistically, it wasn't until the last 5 years or so that the electronics for remote guidance controls for hovering drones, and steerable digital cameras got so small, so lightweight, so reliable, so accurate, and - perhaps most important - so cheap, that widespread drone use became a realistic threat. Originally Posted by ExNYer

In the United States, two pioneers in the field of controlling model planes by radio were Ross Hull and Clinton DeSoto, officers of the American Radio Relay League. During 1937, these two men successfully built and flew several large R/C gliders in the first public demonstration of controlled flights, in the course of which their sailplanes made more than 100 flights. A scheduled R/C event at the 1937 National Aeromodeling Championships attracted six entrants: Patrick Sweeney, Walter Good, Elmer Wasman, Chester Lanzo, Leo Weiss and B. Shiffman, Lanzo winning with the lightest (6 pounds) and simplest model plane, although his flight was rather erratic and lasted only several minutes. Sweeney and Wasman both had extremely short (5-second) flights when their aircraft took off, climbed steeply, stalled and crashed. Sweeney, however, had the distinction of being the first person to attempt a R/C flight in a national contest. The other three entrants were not even able to take off, although Good, with his twin brother William, persisted with developing R/C systems, culminating in first placings in the 1940 US Nationals and again after the end of World War II, in 1947. Their historic R/C model airplane, which they named the “Guff,” was presented to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., in May, 1960, where it can be seen today.[

Most of us don't need to think it through.

You can't - and shouldn't be allowed to - arm a drone for pretty much the same reason that you cannot set lethal booby traps on even your own property.

Before any of you dimwits chime in, do some legal research.

Your property rights do NOT give you the right to - for example - booby trap your front door with a shotgun that blasts someone's leg off if they enter when you are not home. Or even if you are home.

There are too many situations where an innocent person may enter your home without permission - a stranded person looking for shelter or running from a rapist, a cop or firefighter responding to an emergency, a family member or friend entering your house for a benign reason, etc.

The law expects you to maintain control over your weapon.

In the case of a drone, you are putting your weapon out of your control - for what reason? To remotely kill someone else?

What happens if your drone malfunctions and crashes. Anyone who finds it now has a weapon that cannot be traced to them

The benefits are negligibly small and the potential harms are great. So, no, I can't see any constitutional right to do this. Originally Posted by ExNYer

It looks like you've "thought this thru." Would you care to cite the legal precedent where the Feds disallow remotely controlled triggering of a firearm? I wouldn't consider a booby trap the same thing as remotely controlled triggering. I remember during the internet startup days that a exotic ranch set up a remotely controlled gun via the internet and that was koboshed. However, I believe it was at the state level. I've already posted a youtube video in this forum of a someone who has weaponized a drone.

"Logically" thinking things thru sometimes has nothing to do with the legality of something.

So how do gun-bearing libertarians react to these questions? Should anyone be free to purchase a drone? Should they be allowed to own armed drones? Does the Second Amendment apply here? Who manages the air space? Can you prohibit drones from flying over your own property? Originally Posted by lustylad

"...Libertarianism is the view that each person has the right to live his life in any way he chooses so long as he respects the equal rights of others...." This is just an excerpt obviously. Speaking of drones in the spying and killing sense, I think most libertarians would agree that using drones for spying on or killing your neighbors would be appalling and infringe upon the victims right to privacy and life. As far as delivery systems, as long as they didn't have any spying or killing equipment on board they would not have any objection if the end user initiated and agreed before the transaction. They would probably say leave it up to the states to regulate it and manage them.

I'm checking Ebay .