North Dakota’s Weaponized Drone Law Fails to Define “Non-lethal Weapons”
by Raven Clabough
TheNewAmerican.com
Thursday, 10 September 2015
Last month, North Dakota became the first state to legalize the use of armed drones by police in what the United Kingdom’s Independent dubbed as a “classic case of unintended consequences.” The law’s failure to define specifically which weapons are permitted on the drones leaves room for potentially dangerous weapons to be allowed, fueling concerns about the increased militarization of America’s police.
The original legislation, introduced by Rick Becker, a Republican state representative in North Dakota, was intended to prohibit law enforcement from using drones to conduct surveillance without first obtaining a warrant.
Becker’s draft of House Bill 1328 said, “A state agency may not authorize the use of, including granting a permit to use, an unmanned aircraft armed with any lethal or non-lethal weapons, including firearms, pepper spray, bean bag guns, mace, and sound-based weapons.”
However, the state’s police union influenced an amendment to the bill, limiting the ban to only lethal weapons, meaning that sound cannons or rubber bullets could be used on police drones, according to The Daily Beast. Tasers and tear gas could also be permissible under the new law.
The change was made without Becker’s consent. He said at a hearing in March. “In my opinion there should be a nice, red line: Drones should not be weaponized. Period.”
The Rest…HERE
