Droned or stoned?

While several states take steps to limit the use of drones, the Grand Canyon State seems intent on spreading the pilotless spy platforms far and wide.

Four Republican members of the Arizona Legislature [Thomas Forese, Jeff Dial, Justin Pierce, and Bob Thorpe] have introduced HCR 2009 touting their State’s qualifications to be a major player in the drone industry.

Of particular note are items:

[2] ……….”pursue the high priority requirements of the United States Department of Defense
[3] ……… “simultaneously ensuring respect and regard for the individual privacy rights of those…”

[6]………” common-day occurrence in which manned and unmanned aircraft fly safely and seamlessly together in national airspace.

One [at least a liberty loving one] would argue that 24/7 surveillance of the American People is not as great an idea as it may appear on the surface.  As an example, someone might suggest  “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”   Items [3] and [6] clearly indicate that these House members are well aware of the negative [and foreseeable] consequences of this ‘drone genie’, and were most likely included as covering fire against those said consequences; in short – CYA.

HCR 2009 has little regard for the liberties secured by more than one million who have died in service/defense of this nation.  It does however, hold in high regard the value of a dollar bill; especially when those dollars are delivered by the ton via the DoD. It’s bad enough that the ‘central planners‘ in Washington are eviscerating our Constitution daily; we certainly don’t need the states to act as cheerleaders with their collective hands out.

Hello! Hello!! Republican Party, Forese, Dial, etal –   Here’s a grand idea – let’s fill our national airspace with surveillance drones; let’s fill our city streets with surveillance cameras and microphones in street lamps.  Let’s open the funding floodgates to this ‘genie’s bottle‘ even further to see what road it leads us down.  If history is accurate, my guess would be – ‘The Road to Perdition‘ !

Representatives Forese, Dial, Pierce, and Thorpe may do well to reconsider and withdraw this legislation.  If not the legislation, at least their State motto – “Ditat deus

ACTION ITEM

If you live in Arizona, encourage your representative and senator not to turn your state into a surveillance state. You can find contact information HERE.

Readers in every state, encourage your representatives to introduce legislation limiting the use of domestic drones. You can find model legislation HERE.

Tim Taylor

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