What happens when drones become weaponized domestically?
by Dr. Samori Swygert
Most Americans are familiar with drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). What will happen when drones become weaponized domestically?
This article will address the dangerous possibilities of the manipulation and exploitation of drone technology and the dilemma of science and technology that outpaces legislation and regulation.
Some citizens are unconcerned about drones. Many feel that drones provide national security. However, drones are like any other device that can be used as a weapon. The final result resides with the person in control of the apparatus.
Here’s an example:
You can put a gun in the hand of a well-trained, ethical police officer and she/he can provide security without a problem. You can take the same gun and put it in the hands of a Virginia Tech student, and he can kill and injure multitudes of innocent citizens. What is the intent and mind state of the operators of these killing apparatuses?
Now that drone technology is out of Pandora’s Box, what are we to do? The government isn’t the only manufacturer of drones, there are private sector manufacturers that construct drones.
To confound the situation, we also have home-made engineers and physicists that build all types of machines and apparatuses within the confines of their abode.
The majority of American inventions were built in an attic, basement, garage, backyard, or private lab. These same inventions are eventually sold to government agencies, corporations, or propel the inventor into successful entrepreneurship.
I forecast that in the near future, backyard inventors will equip home-made drones with guns and other forms of munitions. The moment this occurs, we will witness some of the most unthinkable atrocities across the country.
Exploring the possible implications
Think about how Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, and John Kennedy were assassinated. Imagine an armed weaponized drone that can hover around a specific target unknowingly and discreetly. The drone could be perched at an inaccessible but perfect vantage point for a kill shot, and then remotely guided back to its owner with stealth. Instead of drive-by’s we could start seeing fly-by’s.
Think about how we have Neo-Nazis, KKK, Skinheads, and other racists and anti-Semitic groups across the country. These groups could wage their own sick wars on innocent civilians with personal weaponized drones. They could fly these drones into highly populated African American communities and take out many blacks, and the news would probably say, “They were victims of random acts of gun viοlence, gang wars, innocent by-standers, or drug related shootings,” and people wouldn’t think twice.
Let me make this clear: This could enable a high-tech, modern day “Black Wall Street” or “16th Street Baptist Church Bombing.” The Black Wall Street bombing was the aerial fire-bombing of a productive African American community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Alabama was a hate crime where four little girls were killed by a racist. The only difference now is that this new technology could allow this to be done by a drone.
You may say I’m pushing the envelope, but let’s extrapolate this to mass school shootings. Imagine a sick individual that has positioned a weaponized drone by schools, offices, or shopping malls, and remotely shoots innocent civilians while at home eating milk and cookies like it’s a video game. Woah! Well we just saw two 12-year-old girls stαb another girl multiple times to please a fictional internet character.
Let’s be logical
I’m just a writer that thinks about situations from several angles other than the one angle presented. The use of drones is presented as a security tool, but there are many other dimensions that are ignored and intentionally dismissed.
Last week, CBS reported that a Seattle woman saw a drone hovering outside her apartment window and viewing her activity. The woman alerted the building staff and they went outside, at that point the owners of the drone quickly packed up their equipment and drove away before local authorities arrived.
According to Politico, this also happened to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Dianne Feinstien said she walked up to one of the windows in her home and a drone was positioned just inches away from her face. Once that occurred, she began pressing for drone regulation. Now, imagine if that was weaponized.
My thoughts
I think it’s too late now. The technology is here, and you can’t regulate criminals. You can make laws, but a criminal’s philosophy is premised on the disregard for law. How do you regulate and control what people are building in their homes?
My other concern is the government or police’s use of drones domestically. Once you’re on a watchlist, you don’t know if you’re targeted for surveillance and or elimination. There is a no fly-list, but people are unaware of the eligibility criteria that places them on this type of list and other lists. What happens if you’re viewed as a threat or your name is confused with another individual that should be on a watch-list? There are even companies in South Africa that have built drones that fire pepper spray bullets for striking South African miners.
However, there is a drone industry, and industries generate money and tax-based revenue. I’m very cautious about the use of drones. If I can see this and feel reluctance and apprehension, please believe some sicko is probably already plotting and salivating for the right time.
This is not a case of IF but a case of WHEN. Keep your eyes peeled! Peace!
Here is a Youtube parody clip I made from Watch the throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iEHFRgW-j8Q
