It’s like one step forward, two steps back.

Armed drones – that’s what the state of North Dakota has just legalised. I mean, Walmart reported last week that it would cease the selling of any selling assault rifles, semi-automatic shotguns and other high-capacity weapons of the sort used in mass killings and now we have this.

What began as a law against the weaponising of drones along with the need for police to require a search warrant before using drones to look for evidence has ended up a bit of a mess. Republican state Rep. Rick Becker sponsored the original bill and had to change it up to include weapons of the ‘less than lethal’ variety, giving up the non-weaponising for the search warrant:

I submitted with prohibition of any weapons. The law enforcement lobby offered an amendment and said that if the amendments were added, they would not oppose. The committee accepted amendments and I didn’t fight them because I wanted the bill to pass at least to require warrants. The law says that law enforcement can’t use drones weaponised with lethal weapons.

The ‘less than lethal’ variety includes rubber bullets – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t deadly. So far this year, 39 people in the USA have been killed by police tasers and rubber bullets, beenbags and tear gas canisters have also caused injuries and death.