First State Legalizes Taser Drones for Cops, Thanks to a Lobbyist

It is now legal for law enforcement in North Dakota to fly drones armed with everything from Tasers to tear gas thanks to a last-minute push by a pro-police lobbyist.
With all the concern over the militarization of police in the past year, no one noticed that the state became the first in the union to allow police to equip drones with “less than lethal” weapons. House Bill 1328 wasn’t drafted that way, but then a lobbyist representing law enforcement—tight with a booming drone industry—got his hands on it.


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Eric Holder: ATF Planning to Use Drones

Attorney General Eric Holder admitted Tuesday that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was in the process of looking at the use of domestic drones.  Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, questioned Holder during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, asking the Attorney General if he believed if the Federal Aviation Administration or Congress should regulate of drone use.  “Would you think that it would be better that Congress intervene and employ legislation safeguarding the Fourth Amendment, right of privacy basically on citizens or do you suggest as Attorney General that the FAA still control who gets a drone or not?” Poe asked.

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FBI to Rand Paul: Domestic drone surveillance doesn’t require a warrant

Drone surveillance in the United States does not require a warrant, but the practice remains limited, the FBI told Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in a letter after he placed a hold on James Comey’s nomination to be the new FBI director.  “[T]he FBI does not, and has no plans to use [unmanned aerial vehicles] to conduct general surveillance not related to a specific investigation or assessment,” Stephan Kelly, the assistant director at the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs, wrote Paul.  Kelly said that UAVs, or drones, have only been used for surveillance in the United States 10 times since 2006, in cases related to “kidnappings, search and rescue operations, drug interdictions, and fugitive investigations.”

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The Government is Spying on US with Drones too

FBI director Robert Mueller said the government has used surveillance drones in the U.S. — though "in a very, very minimal way, very seldom" — at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. "It's very seldom used and generally used in a particular incident when you need the capability," Mueller said before the judiciary committee. "It is very narrowly focused on particularized cases and particularized needs." He said he did not know what happens to the images the drones capture.

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Oregon Senate Bill 71: Relating to drones; and declaring an emergency

Summary of SB 71 (Current Version): Imposes restrictions on use of drones by private parties and public entities. Creates various crimes for unauthorized use of drones. Punishes by maximum of 20 years' imprisonment, $375,000 fine, or both. ✧ Directs Department of State Police to establish registry of certain drones used by public bodies. ✧ Permits Oregon Department of Aviation to issue licenses for use of drones. ✧ Declares emergency, effective on passage. Read more...

2013 Regular Session
Current: In Senate Committee Read More......

U.S. Is Intensifying a Secret Campaign of Yemen Airstrikes

CONSERVATIVE BYTE, 6/9/2011 - The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials. Read more at Conservative Byte... Read More......