‘Does the Second Amendment Cover My Right to Bear (Robotic) Arms?’

The Trace
Hobbyists tinkering with their firearms is nothing out of the ordinary, but it’s not often that a drone enters the equation. A new video showing a Connecticut teen’s flying handgun has become a viral sensation online, garnering more than 800,000 views — and raising questions about what some legal experts contend is the next frontier in Second Amendment law. In the 14-second clip, uploaded by 18-year-old drone hobbyist Austin Haughwout, a small quadrotor helicopter hovers in the air while a handgun attached to its front fires four rounds, each shot causing the craft to visibly recoil. In a Reddit post, Haughwout wrote the drone was homemade using parts from 3D Robotics’s Iris quadcopter, while the gun was semiautomatic a Kel-Tec PMR-30.