Drone armed with semi-automatic handgun turns nightmares into reality

A drone with firepower capacity is a familiar scene in any sci-fi movie or the war torn Middle East - but now it looks like frightening reality for suburbia, after a YouTube user posted a video of a hovering drone firing into open bushland.

The user ‘Hogwit’ described the potential weapon as a “homemade multirotor with a semiautomatic handgun mounted on it”.

The footage, reportedly from the US, shows the gun drone hovering off the ground, and firing four bullets into the surrounding bushland.

Each time a bullet is discharged, the recoil pushes the drone slightly backwards.

While the stunningly disturbing feat is certainly possible – people can independently buy drones and guns in the US – it is illegal to equip any civilian aircraft with weaponry.