Poll of the Day > I think drones should be banned from the public

(+) Yeah! (+)

These aren't toys. These are weapons of war.

The horrifying idea of someone mounting a bomb or a gun on this is terrifying to me.
I feel this should only be used by Marine biology researchers or military exclusive things. I don't like the idea of these things being so public.

The problem there is that many things the public uses originated either as weapons of war, or as technology tangentially developed during wartime. And are still theoretically dangerous now even if they've been repurposed into private commercial uses.

Hell, the Internet only exists because the military invented it specifically for the purposes of coordination during wartime (more specifically, as a non-centralized hub in case of nuclear war). If we went by your logic there you shouldn't be legally allowed to post here about what you think should and shouldn't be allowed, because it was developed as a tool of war, and is definitely dangerous.

And if we avoided every possible technology that could be used to harm others, we wouldn't legally be allowed to own kitchen knives, cars, matches and/or gasoline, or any one of a hundred thousand other things.

jkay posted...

These aren't toys. These are weapons of war.

The horrifying idea of someone mounting a bomb or a gun on this is terrifying to me.
I feel this should only be used by Marine biology researchers or military exclusive things. I don't like the idea of these things being so public.

My theory is that creating a drone that can kill someone is something that would take someone who can think of things slowly and methodically, and they would use that to realize that killing someone is a crazy idea.

So Ukranians naturally use them to kill people, because that's a sane thing for competent people to do when your job is to defend your land.

Meanwhile, a mentally ill 22 year old can go down to walmart and carry out their stupid fantasies with a gun with very little competence.

Basically, the difficulty in creating a murder drone is like it's own form of gun control for drone murder, when in theory anyone could do it.

I think if you got into drones, engineering, and electronics to the extent that you could design a custom drone with targeting systems and all, you might be like, "hey, this is kind of cool and fun, I'm very talented and enjoying what I am doing, I'm going to mature past my silly fantasies and enjoy my life doing this instead of serving a life sentence for no good reason"

Like how in movies, the protagonists are like "what a talented guy, why did he use his skills for this crazy thing?" Yeah, that's a good point protagonist, an actual plot hole.

Drones have a lot of practical applications outside of warfare. Mounting a functional gun onto one also sounds way harder than what a random unstable person can realistically do. There are far simpler and more reliable ways to hurt people.

Toy drone
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/723ec415.jpg

Military drone
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2df34c63.jpg

They are very clearly not the same thing.

I understand you, to a point.

Like someone else said, there IS a huge difference between military drones....and commercial toy drones.

But yes, even the toy drones can be used in dark ways. The technology has gotten so good, even those small drones that can fit in your hand can be equipped with HD 4K cameras.

A lot of cities DO have regulations on them.

Some guys will fly them over beaches to creep on women sunbathing.

Some people will use them to look in people's windows. Scope out potential break-ins and theft.

It's also a general invasion of privacy for a lot of people. If I looked out my bedroom window and saw a small drone just hovering there, I would assume someone is stalking me. Not cool.

Also, I'm intelligent and creative enough to immediately think of SEVERAL ways even toy drones could be weaponized if a person was desperate or sick enough.

Imagine some guy strapping a dirty syringe to the front of a tiny drone and flying it into people at an amusement park or something. [shudders]. I wouldnt put that kinda shit past anyone in 2025. The world is fuckt.

But I'd like to believe MOST people who play with drones, are doing it for casual fun. Or they live in rural areas and want to make artistic panoramic videos for their youtube channel. There are a LOT of channels out there of dudes just flying over trees and mountains, and they look incredible.

Plus, film-making in general. More and more Hollywood movies are using drones for cinematography.

No matter what it is......there will always be people who use things for good and for bad.

Because we are an insane species that I constantly question the purpose of.

[sigh]

Farmers around here have begun using quadcopter drones to spray their crops. It allows them to apply smaller amounts of chemicals using much greater precision than a traditional crop duster. The drones are much less expensive than a Grumman Ag Cat, and require only minimal training (Part 107 certification).
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9940a27f.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5d31000b.jpg

Drones are also MUCH safer to operate than crop dusters.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a14b3e32.jpg

funkyfritter posted...

Mounting a functional gun onto one also sounds way harder than what a random unstable person can realistically do. There are far simpler and more reliable ways to hurt people.

Including just picking up that functional gun and using it themselves. That doesn't offer the same level of personal safety operating an armed drone remotely would, but it doesn't come with nearly the same drawbacks (much harder to aim, can't reload, adjustments for recoil have to happen manually instead of by reflex...).

You know, you can mount guns and bombs on regular airplanes.

Like the US did with the Cessna 337 Skymaster.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/42797853.jpg

Or the Air Tractor AT-802 crop duster.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4074721e.jpg

Or you can mount guns on cars and trucks.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7113705c.jpg

captpackrat posted...

You know, you can mount guns and bombs on regular airplanes.

Like the US did with the Cessna 337 Skymaster.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/42797853.jpg

Or the Air Tractor AT-802 crop duster.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4074721e.jpg

Or you can mount guns on cars and trucks.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7113705c.jpg

In USA guns is highly available usually

I think it's fair to say they aren't toys but saying in general they are weapons of war is ridiculous. That's like saying trucks are weapons of war.

Damn_Underscore posted...

I think it's fair to say they aren't toys but saying in general they are weapons of war is ridiculous. That's like saying trucks are weapons of war.

Difference is Trucks or cars can be stopped at the border.
With drones its more invisible and harder to spot at times. (Though obviously not impossible, considering they shot down drones recently on the Polish border which raises concerns)

All i could think about was this joke about Russians fishing.
https://youtu.be/kaw3EqzxVbA?feature=shared

jkay posted...

In USA guns is highly available usually

Not 50 cal mounted machine guns

jkay posted...

Difference is Trucks or cars can be stopped at the border.

Consumer drone models typically have ranges on the order of a couple miles, maybe getting as high as 10-15 if you really splurge. Even if you do successfully fly a drone across a border, you're probably not going to get it far enough to cause serious problems.

That's not to say it's impossible to work something out (the big strike Ukraine did a few months back where they took out several Russian airfields was pulled off by smuggling containers full of drones in and striking from those containers once they were delivered), but it's certainly not as easy as "consumer drones could be used for war!" makes it seem.

Civilian drones are basically just modern versions of radio controlled helicopters. My dad had one back in the 80's, and they have been around since the 30's. Back then, they were used primarily for surveillance and eventually they got big enough and sturdy enough that they could mount guns and eventually bombs onto them.

That is to say, drones aren't the problem, humans are. Humans are the ones that decided to create them as surveillance machines, then make them war machines. If you want to ban "dangerous weapons", ban humans.

Most of the military drones are really just oversized remote control airplanes.

When most people think "drone", they think of quadcopters, and those don't have the capacity, speed, or range for military use. One of the largest civilian quadcopter drones, the DJI Agras T100, has a maximum payload of only 100 kg and an operational radius of 2 km. That's very small for a bomb; the current smallest (non-cluster) munition in the USAF stocks is the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, which weighs 129 kg.