I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 129 

To amend the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to establish 

a prohibition to prevent the use of an unmanned aircraft system as 

a weapon while operating in the national airspace system, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2017 

Mr. BURGESS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 

to establish a prohibition to prevent the use of an unmanned aircraft system as a weapon while operating 

in the national airspace system, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Armed Drones Act 

5 of 2017’’ or the ‘‘NADA Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title III of the FAA 

8 Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (49 U.S.C. 40101 


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1 note; 126 Stat. 72) is amended by adding at the end the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 337. PROHIBITION TO PREVENT USE OF UNMANNED 

4 AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS AS WEAPONS WHILE OP5 ERATING IN NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM. 

6 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary of Transpor7 tation may not authorize a person to operate an unmanned 

8 aircraft system in the national airspace system for the 

9 purpose, in whole or in part, of using the unmanned air10 craft system as a weapon or to deliver a weapon against 

11 a person or property. 

12 ‘‘(b) GENERAL EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary may 

13 establish exceptions to the prohibition in subsection (a) for 

14 operations of unmanned aircraft systems related to— 

15 ‘‘(1) recreational hunting; 

16 ‘‘(2) animal control; and 

17 ‘‘(3) such other purposes as the Secretary de18 termines appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTIONS FOR OPERATIONS OF PUBLIC UN20 MANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS.—The Secretary may estab21 lish exceptions to the prohibition in subsection (a) for op22 erations of public unmanned aircraft systems related to— 

23 ‘‘(1) operations conducted by U.S. Customs and 

24 Border Protection; 


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1 ‘‘(2) operations conducted by the Department 

2 of Defense, including establishing areas of airspace 

3 for such operations under section 40103(b)(3) of 

4 title 49, United States Code; and 

5 ‘‘(3) operations conducted by a governmental 

6 entity described in the definition of ‘public aircraft’ 

7 in section 40102(a) of such title for national defense 

8 purposes or in response to a terrorist event. 

9 ‘‘(d) PROCEDURES TO PROTECT PUBLIC SAFETY.— 

10 In authorizing operations pursuant to subsections (b) and 

11 (c), the Secretary shall implement procedures to ensure 

12 that reasonable precautions are taken to protect public 

13 safety. 

14 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

15 definitions apply: 

16 ‘‘(1) PERSON.—The term ‘person’, in addition 

17 to its meaning under section 1 of title 1, United 

18 States Code, includes a governmental authority and 

19 a trustee, receiver, assignee, and other similar rep20 resentative. 

21 ‘‘(2) WEAPON.—The term ‘weapon’ includes le22 thal and nonlethal weapons.’’. 

23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

24 contained in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by insert25 ing after the item relating to section 336 the following: 


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‘‘Sec. 337. Prohibition to prevent use of unmanned aircraft systems as weapons 

while operating in national airspace system.’’. 

Æ 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS