It is now legal for law enforcement in North Dakota to fly drones armed with everything from Tasers to tear gas thanks to a last-minute push by a pro-police lobbyist.

The bill's stated intent was to require police to obtain a search warrant from a judge in order to use a drone to search for criminal evidence. In fact, the original draft of Representative Rick Becker's bill would have banned all weapons on police drones.

Then Bruce Burkett of the North Dakota Peace Officer's Association was allowed by the state house committee to amend HB 1328 and limit the prohibition only to lethal weapons. "Less than lethal" weapons like rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas, sound cannons, and Tasers are therefore permitted on police drones.

Becker, the bill's Republican sponsor, said he had to live with it.

"This is one I'm not in full agreement with. I wish it was any weapon," he said at a hearing in March. "In my opinion there should be a nice, red line: Drones should not be weaponized. Period."

Even "less than lethal" weapons can kill though. At least 39 people have been killed by police Tasers in 2015 so far, according to The Guardian. Bean bags, rubber bullets, and flying tear gas canisters have also maimed, if not killed, in the U.S. and abroad. [...]

Money's no problem for the the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Department, though: A California manufacturer loaned them two drones. Grand Forks County Sheriff Bob Rost said his department's drones are only equipped with cameras and he doesn't think he should need a warrant to go snooping. [...]

Rost said he needs to use drones for surveillance in order to obtain a warrant in the first place. "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear," Becker remembered opponents like Rost saying.

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