Lawmaker Looks To Make TSA Pat Downs A Felony

Thousands of concerned Texans were calling into the state capitol to voice their support for Representative David Simpson’s bill, HB 1937, to outlaw the invasive pat downs you receive at the airport. The newly elected lawmaker seeks to make the TSA pat downs that involve a TSA employee touching near and on your genitals a felony crime. He introduced a similar bill that also seeks to make the backscatter x-ray machines illegal in Texas airports. HB 1937 is currently at the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. Simpson is a freshman lawmaker with a Libertarian stance however he has support of the Republican Liberty Caucus which has been vocal against TSA’s new “enhanced” screening methods.

Bills similar to the one Representative Simpson introduced are popping up all over the country as more and more citizens voice their rage over being inappropriately touched at the airport. The enhanced pat downs have been likened to molestation and lawmakers in New Hampshire agree. If the bills pass into law it would make the intimate contact during a pat down a felony sex offense which in Texas can carry up to 10 years in prison.

With the recent discovery that the TSA scanners emit 10 times the amount of radiation that they boasted, the support for bills like Simpson’s is likely to rise. The fact is the people of the United States are becoming fed up with all of this security theater that gives some the false illusion that they’re safe. Forcing everyone to be subjected to radiation or fondling that if someone did outside of the airport they’d be sent to jail for is just plain wrong. Some lawmakers have even suggested reducing TSA back to a supervisory role and letting the local authorities and airlines, who have vested interest in keeping their people safe, deal with the security matters.

Since the Federal government and the Obama administration have sided with TSA and their unconstitutional practices it is up to state law makers like Rep. Simpson to protect their citizens and their rights. Those who are willing to sacrifice their freedoms that men and women have fought and died for do not deserve the privilege of those freedoms. I was just as safe at the airport 4 years ago without those scanners and pat downs as I am today. The TSA is just about creating fear so that they can keep and increase their budget. Don’t fall for it.