Drone Legislation?

[shawn mccarver]

By now, I suppose you all have seen the overblown headline about a "drone" crashing on the White House lawn.

In fact, the story seemed to say that a hobbyist accidentally dropped his two foot long remote controlled toy quad copter on the WH lawn.

This is typical media over blowing of everything these days to get ratings and to attract attention.

However, it is also about a word which implies one thing being used over and over until it takes on a new meaning.

Up until today, I never thought of a hobbyist's two foot long remote controlled toy as a "drone."

On the other hand 25 years ago, I never thought of any semi-automatic rifle, regardless of what it looked like, as an "assault weapon." Nor did I ever think of every scoped rifle as a "sniper rifle." And, I have never thought of every handgun as a criminal's "Saturday night special."

We must be careful here, or soon we will have every loony trying to register and ban all hobby planes. Will outlawing private aviation follow? It sounds implausible, but some of the things that have occurred in my lifetime, I also thought implausible on the theory that no sane person would be fooled.

Is this a "drone?"

 

[Frank46]

Drone legislation HA. I wanna peek over my neighbor's pre fab concrete wall I'll use Google Earth. Frank

 

[Beemerguy53]

By now, I suppose you all have seen the overblown headline about a "drone" crashing on the White House lawn.

With all due respect, I don't think this was an accident, or a prank, or an overblown story at all.

I think this was a deliberate act, and it served two purposes: To see whether the White House security system would detect a drone, and to send a message to our President. (What have we been using to kill terrorists all over the Middle East?)

News reports say that someone called the Secret Service to admit being the drone's owner, but that person has not been identified. And who in blazes flies a drone at 3 AM?

Sorry, but the official explanation of what happened doesn't pass the smell test.....

 

[islamoradamark]

the person operating the remote is either very stupid or knew what he was doing and wanted to see if he could get away with it. Book em Danno

 

[iouri]

Well in this one case I think media might not be overblowing the threat. Capabilities of those "toys" are really impressive even out of the box - radius is over 1.5 miles, programmable waypoints, gps navigation, 500 ft ceiling and capable of carrying sizeable load...

 

[glenncal1]

My quadcopter is due to be delivered today, I promise not to fly it near the white house.....

 

[mstem]

Just when did ever radio controlled airplane & helicopter become a drone? It's a wonder some idiot hasn't started Drone Gate!

 

[NYlakesider]

By now, I suppose you all have seen the overblown headline about a "drone" crashing on the White House lawn.

In fact, the story seemed to say that a hobbyist accidentally dropped his two foot long remote controlled toy quad copter on the WH lawn.

This is typical media over blowing of everything these days to get ratings and to attract attention.
However, it is also about a word which implies one thing being used over and over until it takes on a new meaning.

Up until today, I never thought of a hobbyist's two foot long remote controlled toy as a "drone."

On the other hand 25 years ago, I never thought of any semi-automatic rifle, regardless of what it looked like, as an "assault weapon." Nor did I ever think of every scoped rifle as a "sniper rifle." And, I have never thought of every handgun as a criminal's "Saturday night special."

We must be careful here, or soon we will have every loony trying to register and ban all hobby planes. Will outlawing private aviation follow? It sounds implausible, but some of the things that have occurred in my lifetime, I also thought implausible on the theory that no sane person would be fooled.

Is this a "drone?"

Being I live in the people’s republic of NY I fell it is just a question of time before the reasonably easy use of buying and using "drones" will be severely curtailed. This state goes way overboard in the banning/restricting/licensing/ outlawing department any thing that bothers a government official.

Of course they will know nothing about the subject but will institute “common sense laws” to protect the citizens. Look for a version of the Flying Safe Act to suddenly appear as a law.

Just from what I have seen from around the country about drones I do expect legislation on all levels in many places soon (Feds, States & Local.)

 

[Qball]

They are harmless..........or are they??

"Terminator" comes to mind

 

[shawn mccarver]

With all due respect, I don't think this was an accident, or a prank, or an overblown story at all.

I think this was a deliberate act, and it served two purposes: To see whether the White House security system would detect a drone, and to send a message to our President. (What have we been using to kill terrorists all over the Middle East?)

News reports say that someone called the Secret Service to admit being the drone's owner, but that person has not been identified. And who in blazes flies a drone at 3 AM?

Sorry, but the official explanation of what happened doesn't pass the smell test.....

You may be correct. Let's hope not.

I agree that the threat is real, but given the fact that I saw this on a news feed on AOL, and that a HUGE number of their "headlines" are attention-getting and do not accurately reflect what the story says, I reacted as I often do with their "news," knowing that this is just the sort of thing that anti-gun people do - overblow, sensationalize, and then a new term is introduced into our vocabulary to mean something it does not, and then we see more legislation.

I appreciate you pointing this out.

Thank you.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

It's already agin the law to overfly the White House.
As usual, we don't need any more laws.
We need more enforcement.

 

[DeadAye]

They have a lot of high dollar ($$$$$$$) stuff to *protect* the White House when all they need is a few guys with Wingmasters.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

They have a lot of high dollar ($$$$$$$) stuff to *protect* the White House when all they need is a few guys with Wingmasters.

Got that right! Every time I see a story about one of those little helicopter drones, all I think of is- that would sure be fun to shoot at!

 

[Sconnie]

Until the Navy perfects it's rail gun system they just need to install a Sea Wiz or two. Problem solved.

Actually, regardless of the legislation and regulation it does point out a vulnerability that needs to be addressed for the White House. Just like the fence jumpers hammered home the need for a change.

Funny how RC airplanes and helicopters have been popular in some circles for many years. Only now that they have added 3 more rotors and call them "drones" does it take off....(pun intended). A marketing department dream come true. They do look cool but I think I would rather buy another S&W.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Slippery slope boys. First they ban our drones; next they'll ban our potato guns!

 

[BigBoy99]

Slippery slope boys. First they ban our drones; next they'll ban our potato guns!

If you use a flammable material (hair spray, etc.) to propel the potato, they are considered to be firearms by the BATF and subject to the respective laws. To be on the safe side, I use compressed air to propel my potatos.

 

[Coldshooter]

I knew there were drones at the White House now I find out there are UAVs also.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Supposedly there are anti aircraft defenses at the White House, but not optimized for drones. Stingers are supposedly on site as a final counter measure against a kamikaze attack.

I suppose one needs to arm a drone for it to enjoy constitutional protection. There is no protection in the Bill of Rights for airborne surveillance. However, the individual right to weapons is firmly enshrined....