They may be creepy, but drones are actually a more humane weapon than many used in the past, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said on Friday’s edition of Morning Joe.

“To be honest, I believe drones are a lot more civilized than what we’ve used to do, you know, when Sherman shelled Atlanta or when the Allies firebombed Dresden in World War II; it was all collateral damage, it was virtually all civilians,” King said. “And that was the way of war until recently. The drones, although there is some collateral damage, basically is a very smart artillery shell, and we’ve been shooting artillery shells over miles and miles for many years and hoping they hit the right target.”

“I think there’s just something creepy about drones that they can be controlled and people are uneasy about it, but if you put in the context of a thousand years of war, I think it’s actually a more humane weapon because it can be targeted to a specific enemy.”