Either this will get reversed in due course, or it is a sign of a future we need to get used to. In North Dakota it is now legal for the authorities to fly unmanned vehicles that can use non-lethal weaponry.
The bill’s stated intent was to require police to obtain a search warrant from a judge in order to use a drone to search for criminal evidence. In fact, the original draft of Representative Rick Becker’s bill would have banned all weapons on police drones.
Then Bruce Burkett of the North Dakota Peace Officer’s Association was allowed by the state house committee to amend HB 1328 and limit the prohibition only to lethal weapons. “Less than lethal” weapons like rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas, sound cannons, and Tasers are therefore permitted on police drones. [The Daily Beast].
And as we know, even with supposedly expert human users, Tasers are regularly lethal. Imagine how bad it could be when a drone Tasers someone…
Shoot them down people.
