North Dakota just became the first state to legalize police officers arming drones with nonlethal weapons. That means these militarized police goons can now shoot tear gas and tasers at your from a remote-controlled plane.
It happened when House Bill 1328 was changed by a lobbyist and the bill went from banning putting weapons on drones to greatly expanding them. The lobbyists name is Bruce Burkett and he represented the North Dakota Peace Officer’s Association. He was allowed to amend HB 1328 to state that drones could be equipped with “less than lethal” weaponry.
The bill’s original sponsor, Rick Becker, was not pleased with the changes that had been made to the bill.
“This is one I’m not in full agreement with. I wish it was any weapon,” Becker said. “In my opinion there should be a nice, red line: Drones should not be weaponized. Period.”
Removing the decision of whether to use a weapon, lethal or not, to someone who is potentially miles and miles away from the situation on the ground, is inevitably fraught with opportunities for mistakes.
Rather than letting common sense legislation that moves to demilitarize the police in America, it looks like we’re continuing are ever-steady march to an ever-present military police.
