# Legal to build a killer robot for home defense? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290 "2014-02-26T03:17:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290/21 "2016-01-08T15:39:41Z")
You could control it with an app on your phone: “Siri- open fire on the intruder” “I detect 10 intruders 2 are fairly close to you. Which would you like me to eliminate?” ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290/22 "2016-01-08T15:41:05Z")
You can defend your house with a German Shepherd and with a gun. So mount the gun on the German Shepherd. ---
**Author:** ![\_Raven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/_raven/32/20435_2.png) [@\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Raven)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290/23 "2016-01-08T17:08:39Z")
I’m with RickJay on this: no matter the robotic “IQ”, you’ve left a deathtrap to protect your property, the same moral issue as if you’d laid a minefield. Some innocent deliveryperson could come to (or toward) your door with a parcel, or a lost traveler asking for directions or emergency help, and die because your mechanism has no human discretion. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290/24 "2016-01-08T19:32:28Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > You could control it with an app on your phone: > “Siri- open fire on the intruder” > “I detect 10 intruders 2 are fairly close to you. Which would you like me to eliminate?” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290/25 "2016-01-08T20:42:28Z")
Move to Florida. Build your robot. Stand behind it when it opens fire. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290/26 "2016-01-08T21:04:15Z")
Zombies don’t care about robots, as they don’t have brains. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290/27 "2016-01-08T21:49:44Z")
Last time I looked into it, the BATFE considers any device which can fire more than one bullet over time with a single action to be a machine gun. Something like a gatling gun with a hand crank that keeps firing as you turn it is fine because it requires continuous action, and a double-barreled shotgun that can fire both barrels is fine because it happens at once, but anything where you press a button (like the on switch) and the device starts firing more than once is treated as a machine gun. Unless you’re licensed as a firearms manufacturer (this is a different license than a gun seller or collector has) and are manufacturing under specific conditions, it’s illegal to make a machine gun, so you’d be guilty of a federal crime without even considering the ‘deadly traps’ argument. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290/28 "2016-01-08T21:54:37Z")
As in, a literal “machine” + “gun” == “machinegun”. I like it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-to-build-a-killer-robot-for-home-defense/682290.md?page=1)