The company behind the stun guns wants to use drones to stop the next school shooting.
In a post this week on the company's website, Rick Smith said that he was moving forward with a plan to develop technology that could help prevent the next Uvalde, Sandy Hook, or Columbine. In the event of a fire, drones armed with less-lethal energy weapons could be installed in schools.
Critics include the Artificial Intelligence ethics board. The board decided it was not a good idea to sell the drones to the police. The company is moving forward and expanding the potential market to educational institutions gives us pause.
The board is only advisory in nature according to Smith.
We would have to make sure the board had a better balance of public safety views if they had governing rights over the company.
He told Insider that he shared the board's concerns about the unregulated use of technology, but that it was safer than relying on someone with a gun.
The senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union told Insider that drones should not be armed.
His main concern was that they lower the barrier to the use of force, and that once in the hands of law enforcement or others, they will not just be used in extreme situations, such as a school shooting.
He said that it wouldn't stop at schools. It's going to be used in the Black and brown communities that feel the most harms from policing.
The White House agrees with the concerns of the American Civil Liberties Union.
A May 25 executive order issued by President Joe Biden limits the transfer and purchase of "weaponized drones" by law enforcement, even though the CEO of Axon thinks funding for drones in schools could come from federal grants. They have not been allowed in states such as Oregon, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Critics don't differentiate between drones with lethal weapons and those with less-lethal stun guns, which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people in the US since they were adopted by law enforcement, according to Takei.
"What we've seen over and over again is police officers using stun guns in situations where they might not have used a weapon at all," Takei said.
He said that adding them to drones opens a box.
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