This type of forethought is encouraging to participate in. It seems that second amendment advocates are constantly responding to regulatory encroachment, rather than pushing for new legislation which carves out room for the exercise of 2A rights.
As you mention, airborne drones are tightly regulated, but weakly so. From my limited exposure to the FPV world, I get the impression that the ability to fly and film is not partisan. Imagine if hobby RC was brought to schools or neighborhood parks to give kids something fun and productive to explore. What if volunteer civilian UAS were used in search/rescue? People of all walks love these things, and almost everybody can find a use for one and fly it. Thus, I think a productive way to start on the offensive with legislation is to advocate from a hobby and community improvement stance.
There are several influential hobby drone advocates who would make great leaders on this issue. They can speak to the burdensome restrictions over time, how regulation does not necessarily result in safety, and how hobby RC tech is the start of many helpful technologies. In particular, I'm thinking of Justin at Drone Camps RC. He has been in the DIY drone scene from its early days, and is a second amendment proponent too.
There is a pure 2A argument to be made for the deregulation of drones, and this is really what we're after. Armed drones owned and operated by civilians is a certain deterrent of tyranny, just as our forefathers intended. However, I think it would be more palatable to initially advocate for the rights to fly from a hobby perspective. I've heard more than one drone pilot bummed that drones are being weaponized, because it leads to tighter regulation of civilian craft. We must work hand in hand with tech and cinema-oriented FPV enthusiasts in the fight for deregulation.
What can we do to start? For one, make sure that drones get positive media coverage. Volunteer to do an air show. Do cinema flights for local orgs. Teach kids to build and fly, et cetera. The more hearts and minds drones capture, the easier it will be to carve out regulatory space. A strong 2A argument emerges once they're in common use.
Great points, and it's also noteworthy that all the possible hobbyist and prosumer uses of drones vastly outnumber the defensive uses. So drones won't ever be *mostly* defensive tools, and it would be unambitious to only push for deregulation of defensive uses. Deregulation would be a game changer for all sorts of things.
That said, in retrospect the gun rights people of the early-to-mid 20th century made a mistake by not owning the idea of guns-as-weapons, and trying to frame them purely as sporting tools. We're only just now undoing that mistake, and reframing to own the fact that they're weapons has been very successful for gun rights/gun culture. It would be a mistake to overplay your hand and focus excessively on drones as defensive tools, but there's a balance to strike, because we don't want to underplay that hand either and repeat the mistakes of the pre-1934 gun rights advocates.
This type of forethought is encouraging to participate in. It seems that second amendment advocates are constantly responding to regulatory encroachment, rather than pushing for new legislation which carves out room for the exercise of 2A rights.
As you mention, airborne drones are tightly regulated, but weakly so. From my limited exposure to the FPV world, I get the impression that the ability to fly and film is not partisan. Imagine if hobby RC was brought to schools or neighborhood parks to give kids something fun and productive to explore. What if volunteer civilian UAS were used in search/rescue? People of all walks love these things, and almost everybody can find a use for one and fly it. Thus, I think a productive way to start on the offensive with legislation is to advocate from a hobby and community improvement stance.
There are several influential hobby drone advocates who would make great leaders on this issue. They can speak to the burdensome restrictions over time, how regulation does not necessarily result in safety, and how hobby RC tech is the start of many helpful technologies. In particular, I'm thinking of Justin at Drone Camps RC. He has been in the DIY drone scene from its early days, and is a second amendment proponent too.
There is a pure 2A argument to be made for the deregulation of drones, and this is really what we're after. Armed drones owned and operated by civilians is a certain deterrent of tyranny, just as our forefathers intended. However, I think it would be more palatable to initially advocate for the rights to fly from a hobby perspective. I've heard more than one drone pilot bummed that drones are being weaponized, because it leads to tighter regulation of civilian craft. We must work hand in hand with tech and cinema-oriented FPV enthusiasts in the fight for deregulation.
What can we do to start? For one, make sure that drones get positive media coverage. Volunteer to do an air show. Do cinema flights for local orgs. Teach kids to build and fly, et cetera. The more hearts and minds drones capture, the easier it will be to carve out regulatory space. A strong 2A argument emerges once they're in common use.
Great points, and it's also noteworthy that all the possible hobbyist and prosumer uses of drones vastly outnumber the defensive uses. So drones won't ever be *mostly* defensive tools, and it would be unambitious to only push for deregulation of defensive uses. Deregulation would be a game changer for all sorts of things.
That said, in retrospect the gun rights people of the early-to-mid 20th century made a mistake by not owning the idea of guns-as-weapons, and trying to frame them purely as sporting tools. We're only just now undoing that mistake, and reframing to own the fact that they're weapons has been very successful for gun rights/gun culture. It would be a mistake to overplay your hand and focus excessively on drones as defensive tools, but there's a balance to strike, because we don't want to underplay that hand either and repeat the mistakes of the pre-1934 gun rights advocates.