Unarmed drone (on the left) (courtesy eandt.theiet.org)

“In yesterday’s Senate drone hearing, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) got personal, describing a rally held outside her home earlier this year,” theverge.com reports. ‘I went to the window to peek out, and there was a drone right there looking in. Obviously the drone’s pilot was surprised, because the drone wheeled around and crashed,” she told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. “What kind of camera was on the drone? What kind of microphone? Could an enterprising person have attached a firearm to it?” No, Enterprise picks you up . . .

The hearing mostly concerned with the FAA’s roadmap for regulating civilian drone use, spurred on by Amazon’s recent announcement of a drone delivery program. But Senator Feinstein used her time to specifically speak out specifically against the prospect of private citizens equipping drones with deadly force, potentially opening the door for a new legislative avenue regulating the unmanned crafts. “We should not allow armed drones in the United States, period,” the Senator told the committee. “It should be a crime for a private individual to arm a drone.”

Police? ATF? FBI? DHS? Not so much. [h/t NB]

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91 COMMENTS

  1. Because armed civilian drones have no purpose what-so-ever…it’s not like they could make short work of the invasive species problem that is wild pigs.

  2. ‘It should be a crime for a private individual to arm a drone.’”
    Got that you lowly civilians! Cops by all means, government no problem. But ordinary everyday individuals OMG!!!
    I can only apologize for DiFi and Pelosi so much. My voice is gone, I simply choose to ignore them, and move along as beast I can.

  3. After seeing that mug on the monitor, no wonder the drone crashed. Hopefully the operator was not turned to stone.

  4. What makes her think any terrorist would obey such a law? It’s like saying it’s illegal to build pipe bombs or pressure cooker bombs, a terrorist will not obey said law. Me sees a new term in the making, “Assault Drones.”

  5. THIS WOMAN MUST LEAVE THE SENATE!!!! SHE’S DEFNITELY LOSING HER DAMN MIND!!!
    I hope the drone was spying on her …God I really hope so!!! 🙂

  8. Sucks when technology in the hands of private citizens, is used to keep tabs on the American Government. Or does it, MRS. Feinstein?

    I see an extension of 2A rights for the 21st Century. Maybe we can compromise if I promise only to arm it with a blunderbuss.

    • So, maybe get totally pseudo-retro and steampunk the whole thing. If someone missed with a single shot weapon, at least the intended target would go running into the street screaming that Victorian aliens had attacked her, which would seriously increase the overall entertainment value.

    • Heaven forbid that someone start using a 3-D printer to build drone parts!

      But I don’t see her concern, really. The only armed drones I’m aware of sit in police cars behind the pastry shop.

    • Defiantly a sign of AI on the drone’s part. You have to give it props. Would you consider it a Crone Drone?

      • It’s not just a sign of AI (Artificial Intelligence) on the drone, it is proof! Any normal person, upon suddenly seeing Feinstein that close, would go commit suicide as well. And that is exactly what the drone did. See, it is proof!

  11. Isn’t it technically already illegal for someone to arm a drone? I mean wouldn’t that constitute an electronic trigger, turning the firearm into a machine gun? Which if the laws congress has already passed are still in effect, the only people you would have to worry about are criminals, and then you would just be wasting the ink in your pen.

    Cause they don’t follow laws, that’s why we call them criminals.

      • I’m guessing the electronic remote trigger you place on your controller would probably be deemed illegal by the ATF since they have already made a ruling to that effect, but since you know better, go ahead and try it and let us know how it works out.

      • I think there is already a prohibition against remote controlled guns. I imagine an armed drone would be covered by that too.

      • Yes, they shut down the internet hunting company and electric ignition muzzle loaders have been regulated out of production. Iirc précis ting guns are grandfathered in but I doubt you would get away with using one like suggested.

      • That’s the first thing that came to mind when I read this, arming a drone is already illegal. Leave it up to an “expert” in the realm of guns to not even know what the current law is, although it is their MO to make things illegal-er than they already are with identical laws.

      • Arming a drone in and of itself is not presently illegal. Hooking up a remote control trigger is illegal. So if the drone had some mechanism whereby it decided all by itself if/when to fire, that would not be illegal. At least that is the story that I am going to promote.

    • “It should be some kind of crime to keep re-electing that rights-snatching drone.”

      It should be some kind of crime to keep re-electing that rights-snatching crone. FIFY.

  16. Are we talking about flying drones or is Feinstein preempting automated ground turrets (like those seen in the movie “Aliens”) too? Perhaps she envisions a future where Terminator-like security robots are walking around protecting elites and government officials while the rest of America is left to their antiquated AR-15’s that can’t so much as dent the armor plating of the Terminators?

    “It’s so cute how the pro-gun crowd of the early part of the century genuinely thought they were preserving their right to self-defense… yet with the ban on civilian ownership of armed drones and bots of any kind in 2014, and the preexisting ban on destructive devices, it wasn’t long before the right to bear arms became nothing more than a sport of nostalgia, like fencing…”

    • “Today, in the wonderful world of 2038, bots patrolling the streets of NY automatically full-body-scan civilians with their standard sensor systems. If a firearm is detected, the expanded Stop-and-Frisk laws allow them to put the civilian up against the wall and validate that the firearm is lawful. If the firearm is found to be unlawfully owned, or if it is loaded with illegal electromagnetic pulse rounds, the bot immediately makes an arrest. With its superior strength, the bot can individually detain the target in 99.9% of all instances and the paddy wagon is then called to haul the target to jail. We are pleased to say that firearm extremism is on the decline, as well as associated radical movements such as the Libertarian Party and Neo-Republican Party. In addition, terrorist organizations like the NRA and ACLU are all but extinct.”

    • I agree that they seem to be upping the game and taking to the skies. having realized that most citizens are better shots and pretty hard core about their positions the only option left is to be 2 miles up with surveillance gear today and armed mini drones tomorrow.

      I don’t want to think about how this is going to end up. At some point there will be a conflict and it’s going to be messy.

  18. “We should not allow armed drones in the United States, period”

    Yet I’m sure she’s perfectly fine with the government using armed drones in the US.

  19. FYI: The rally in question was probably a Code Pink rally in support of Bradley Manning’s attacks on US soldiers (not that I have any sympathy for jug ears or the obamaniac’s putting them in harm’s way to give the Middle Eastern majorities who favour Islamism more power).

    • Of course, I’m kinda assuming that Feinstein-Goldman is capable of telling the truth about such a thing happening… more fool me.

  21. We should expand gun control up into Fienstiens butt and blow it up .. that is the proper way to dispose of unknown foriegn substances, and what comes out of her mouth must have a slight resemblance to what is coming out the other end, so it should be a real no-brainer to just detonate the stuff ….

  22. I’m grateful DiFis face was not shown, saving many of the AI from wrecking their personal vehicles.

  24. ‘We should not allow armed drones in the United States, period,’ the Senator told the committee. ‘It should be a crime for a private individual to arm a drone.’”

    Spoken like a true tyrant. She would be all for launching rockets into someone’s house if she thought it best for the children.

    • Speaking of rockets, I am surprised the antis don’t get their panties in a wad over model rocketry. I mean you can do high-powered rocketry and liquid-fuel rockets too. I can imagine the argument: “NO ONE NEEDS A HIGH-POWERED ROCKET!” But no terrorist as far as I know has ever used a model rocket to conduct an attack of any kind (which is probably why it doesn’t register on the antis radar).

  31. “It should be a crime for a private individual to arm a drone.”
    WTH !?!
    It should be a crime for the government to arm a drone in the US!!!

  33. It is just this kind of drone threat which makes me want to by a WWII German 88 to allow me to defend against drone attack. I could also use it for duck hunting.

  34. “I went to the window to peek out, and there was a drone right there looking in. …the drone wheeled around and crashed”

    The Gorgon’s stare claims yet another victim…

  37. “We should not allow armed drones in the United States, period,”
    But doesn’t she have a carry permit?

  38. Uhm, isn’t already illegal to fly an armed private aircraft here in the U.S.? I’m pretty sure it is. If so, it’s not a huge stretch to broaden that interpretation to unmanned drones as well.

    Just sayin’.

    • Yeah but Feinstein never met a restrictive law she didn’t like. Never hurts to make something illegaler*. Layers of laws bound by a spiderweb of impenetrable legal language–just in case.

      *Don’t say it. It was on purpose.

  39. The operator was startled due to her just getting out of the shower. He didn’t know what a shaved upright basset hound looked like.

  42. Only the government should be able to arm drones so they can attack and kill members of wedding parties, little children, and at some point in the future kill American citizens too. The government hates politicians.

  43. I love that someone is giving her a dose of her own medicine. This woman is a shill for the NSA and has no problem with the government spying on US… why is she afraid of us spying on her? After all, if she has nothing to hide….

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