National bipartisan caucus emerges to combat unconstitutional abuse by TSA

Monday, April 18, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: TSA, abuse, health news

(NaturalNews) Several state legislators are outraged over the US Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) continued and escalating assaults against individual freedom, personal privacy, and even the Constitution itself, through the use of naked body scanners and full-body pat downs. So these lawmakers from Hawaii and several other US states are banding together to form the "United States for Travel Freedom" (USTF) caucus, whose aim is to pass state laws that combat TSA tyranny (http://www.akhealthcaucus.org/TSA.php).

When Alaska Representative Sharon Cissna, a breast cancer survivor, was recently pulled aside after going through the naked body scanner at a Colorado airport, agents insisted that she also undergo a full-body pat down. TSA agents had detected Cissna's breast implant, which was the result of a mastectomy she underwent, and insisted that she also be felt up by a TSA agent. When she refused, agents would not let her proceed, and instead she had to find an alternate form of travel.

Similar incidents in other states, including the recent, inappropriate full-body pat down of a six year old girl (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20054...), have been the tipping point for many states that have decided, enough is enough. Thus, legislators in several US states are fighting back against the TSA's gross violation of privacy and freedom by working to pass airport security legislation that bars the TSA from certain invasive protocols.

In Hawaii, Sen. Sam Slom introduced Senate Bill 1150, "Relating to the use of Body Imaging Scanners at Airports," which would prohibit the use of non-consensual naked body scanners at Hawaii airports. The bill was never given a proper hearing at the time it was introduced, but Sen. Slom has said it will be reintroduced again in 2012.

In Michigan, Rep. Eileen Kowall introduced the latest version of House Resolution 368 in 2010, which would fully prohibit the use of naked body scanners and full-body pat downs in airports, citing the procedures' explicit constitutional violations.

Other states with TSA legislation include Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/hawaii-other-s...