World Surveillance Group Inc (fka WSGI)

[Renaissance]

All of the state and now federal legislation focus on fourth amendment rights. What about the second amendment?

"some legal scholars think that Second Amendment rights might extend to robotic arms, including drones outfitted with weapons."

"It's a question that Peter W. Singer, director of Brookings' 21st Century Defense Initiative, wrote in 2010 was an "all too real question" surrounding the age of drones.

"Does the Second Amendment cover my right to bear (robotic) arms? It sounds like a joke, but where does the line stop, and why?" Singer wrote."

"The Second Amendment question was recently explored in-depth by Dan Terzian, a U.S. District Court clerk in Guam, who published "The Right to Bear (Robotic) Arms" in the Penn State Law Review earlier this year.

According to Terzian, the answer to that question comes down to the interpretation of the Supreme Court in a couple cases, most importantly District of Columbia v. Heller, the 2008 decision that overturned Washington's handgun ban.

That decision held that the Second Amendment "protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in the militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home," but limits the amendment's protections to weapons that are "in common use at the time."

By that definition, robotic weapons would almost certainly not be considered in "common use," much like rocket launchers, tanks and cannons. But Terzian says that as the technology improves, armed drones could one day become popular enough to become commonplace.""

"Though the FAA expressly forbids people from arming their private planes, it doesn't forbid the shooting of guns out of the windows of planes or helicopters. While it is illegal in most states, in some places, it's specifically permitted. In 2011, Texas passed a law that allows licensed hunters to shoot feral hogs from helicopters."

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/05/21/the-next-gun-debate-armed-drones-could-be-protected-by-the-second-amendment

although earlier in the article it did say:

"In February, Jim Williams, the man in charge of regulating drones for the FAA, was unequivocal about the question.

"We currently have rules in the books that deal with releasing anything from an aircraft, period," he said at an industry meeting. "Those rules are in place and that would prohibit weapons from being installed on a civil aircraft.""