Maybe the drone guys should just start strapping cannons to the wings, then they'd be classed as assault rifles and there'd be no regulation at all.
Well, they'd need to become a Type 7 and Type 10 FFL, subject to numerous regulations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, meaning every design would need to be subject to approval by the government only after they've ensured that it isn't easily modifiable by consumers.
If you actually do manufacture an assault cannon, it's a destructive device of greater than half inch bore, meaning it wouldn't be eligible for civilian purchase at all, so your clientele would be limited to government.
You'd be subject to paying applications fees, renewal fees, design submission fees, approval fees, etc. You'd be subject to routine inspections by the government, who can choose to disallow any product you'd like to make. Your clientele would be limited to government only, and you'd be subject to literally thousands of pages of regulations.
Smugness aside, your strategy is very flawed, as adding firearms to your device would add immense heaps of regulation, and doesn't help avoid any, whatsoever. And of course, you'd still be responsible for all the regulatory hurdles of building a drone too.
I really don't understand people that say this. Have you ever tried to buy an actual "assault" rifle, meaning a select-fire battle-ready rifle?
Even for semiautomatic rifles, the regulations are quite long. Maybe no one should own an AR-15 (though I doubt banning specifically the AR-15 would do anything since its not even the most effective gun for what people illegally and terribly use it for, people just happen to do it because its popular and in Call of Duty), but to call it "no regulation" is just silly.
That said, the regulations for purchasing a plain-old semi-auto rifle are not a particularly high hurdle. In my state (VA), you walk into store, point at gun, hand over 2 ID and a credit card, fill out a background check, and wait a few minutes for the NICS check to complete, then walk out with the gun. If you buy the gun from a private party, you get to skip the ID and NICS portion - just hand over cash and walk away with gun.
an "assault" anything, just means it looks badass (or scary).
the problem is when AR15s are used to shoot fish in a barrel, aka people in school corridors.
machine guns are very well regulated on the contrary.