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by iambateman 824 days ago
Sure, I’m squarely in the “private killer robots are bad” camp, but my point is that a lot of people will disagree there.

My state passed a law last week saying 18-year-old children can open carry a gun without a license. It’s very possible that the 2A people get energized and the Supreme Court is sufficiently out of touch to get this right.

3 comments

There are no 18 year old children. Those are adults, with all the rights and responsibilities that come with that title.
Not all of them. They can't drink, be a senator, or (in some states) rent a car.
this is America!

18 years old + white -> child

12 years old + Black -> adult

I don't make the rules. I dont' understand them either

In my state (Idaho), and many others, simply using a camera drone to spot game is illegal (even using it to locate wounded/downed game, because it provides an easy excuse). Drone with a gun is an entirely different level and to my knowledge is broadly banned across the country.
The 3 things mentioned so far are governed by very different regulatory regimes:

- Using a camera drone to spot game will fall under the purview of both Federal and state level Fish and Game/Wildlife departments, eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Fish_... AFAIK this is not federally illegal, so there should be plenty of places where you can do this in the US.

- Drone (I assume you mean some quadcopter UAV) with a gun falls under FAA guidelines. You can't intentionally destroy them in flight or attach weapons to them for the same reason that you can't do that with planes: they are aircraft and the FAA doesn't want to deal with you shooting down aircraft. Since the FAA is federal, you can't do this anywhere in the US.

- Robot with a gun falls under ATF guidelines, specifically ATF letters that indicate certain classes of electronic trigger are effectively a machine gun and fall under the purview of the NFA. Same as point 2, the ATF rules will apply federally. If you have the relevant licensing, which I think would fall under a Class 2 SOT FFL, you can hook a firearm up to a robot since you are legally allowed by the ATF to manufacture machine guns. Most (?) of the Youtubers who have given guns to those offbrand Spots are doing it legally under the supervision of a Class 2 SOT.

- The autonomous robot with a gun would fall under the third point, as I am unaware of any rulings about specifically autonomous stuff, though someone could potentially make the argument that past rulings on booby traps could apply.

None of this directly answers the OP question about whether the 2nd amendment applies, but broadly federal regulation has moved past "shall not be infringed", so what the relevant federal agencies actually de facto allow is more to the point.

Well you seemed prone to sensationalism to begin with, but this:

> 18-year-old children

just confirmed it. An 18-year-old is an adult with a right to own and bear a firearm by the 2nd amendment. A person is not a drone, and an 18-year-old is not a child.