TSA searches 96-year-old woman in wheelchair in viral video, sparking outrage/8,996,939 views
- Thread starter RugersGR8
- Start Date
The article I read said she didn't even care about being searched. The family was also upset for not being provided hotels by the airline due to a weather cancellation.
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OK, let me interject a bit of reality on the topic. Those of you who know what I do, know I'm not on the touchy feely side of the TSA house. But, last month I had seven guns at my airport alone. SEVEN. Six of them were loaded and ready to go. As of noon today, we already have four this month and two of them today alone. What you have to understand is that TSA doesn't work off intent. They work off what you have when you present yourself for screening, even if it's just and as of yet an unresolved anomaly. Dennis is correct, you don't assume a 96 year old lady is going to commit a terrorist act. You assume that it's possible someone may use her as an unknowing mule. If for no other reason, you don't exempt certain classes of people based on that scenario.
But let's say you do decide that certain classes of people would never commit, nor allow themselves to unwittingly be used to commit a terrorist (or smuggling) act. In this day and age of everyone getting offended about everything, how do you set up an iron clad exemption system that would never be abused, misused, misinterpreted by a 48,000 person workforce, or create public indignation? I think we all know the answer to that question. You can't. So you get 96 year old ladies undergoing additional screening. IIRC, the oldest person I saw carrying a loaded firearm they "didn't know" they were carrying was 84 years old. Does that mean no one 85 or older ever does or would forget they're packing? Nope. It just means we haven't seen it, yet.
No one likes the TSA, including me. I'd rather have to go find another job tomorrow if it meant we were no longer necessary. Unfortunately I have too much job security, because people are overly busy, sometimes forgetful and in some cases, downright stupid. Remember, it was illegal to carry a gun or bomb on a plane before 9/11 was even planned. If you bring a gun to security screening at the airport, you might even get a TSA "love letter" signed by me. BTW, that will cost you $3,920, first offense. But we're reasonable people and if we truly believe you just forgot, you admit you screwed up and pay within 30 days, you only have to pay half. Now who said we were unreasonable?
P.S. My job is a huge reason I'm a fierce opponent of off body carry. In 16 years I've only heard of a single case out of tens of thousands nationwide, where the person who "forgot" was packing on person. It's always in a bag or purse and they either "didn't know it was in there" or "forgot it was in there". We even found one once that the guy had "lost" a decade before. We believed him because when we pulled it out, it was covered in filth, rust and the cartridges were corroded into the cylinders. Yeah, we help people find stuff they lost all the time.
But let's say you do decide that certain classes of people would never commit, nor allow themselves to unwittingly be used to commit a terrorist (or smuggling) act. In this day and age of everyone getting offended about everything, how do you set up an iron clad exemption system that would never be abused, misused, misinterpreted by a 48,000 person workforce, or create public indignation? I think we all know the answer to that question. You can't. So you get 96 year old ladies undergoing additional screening. IIRC, the oldest person I saw carrying a loaded firearm they "didn't know" they were carrying was 84 years old. Does that mean no one 85 or older ever does or would forget they're packing? Nope. It just means we haven't seen it, yet.
No one likes the TSA, including me. I'd rather have to go find another job tomorrow if it meant we were no longer necessary. Unfortunately I have too much job security, because people are overly busy, sometimes forgetful and in some cases, downright stupid. Remember, it was illegal to carry a gun or bomb on a plane before 9/11 was even planned. If you bring a gun to security screening at the airport, you might even get a TSA "love letter" signed by me. BTW, that will cost you $3,920, first offense. But we're reasonable people and if we truly believe you just forgot, you admit you screwed up and pay within 30 days, you only have to pay half. Now who said we were unreasonable?
P.S. My job is a huge reason I'm a fierce opponent of off body carry. In 16 years I've only heard of a single case out of tens of thousands nationwide, where the person who "forgot" was packing on person. It's always in a bag or purse and they either "didn't know it was in there" or "forgot it was in there". We even found one once that the guy had "lost" a decade before. We believed him because when we pulled it out, it was covered in filth, rust and the cartridges were corroded into the cylinders. Yeah, we help people find stuff they lost all the time.
OK, let me interject a bit of reality on the topic. Those of you who know what I do, know I'm not on the touchy feely side of the TSA house. But, last month I had seven guns at my airport alone. SEVEN. Six of them were loaded and ready to go. As of noon today, we already have four this month and two of them today alone. What you have to understand is that TSA doesn't work off intent. They work off what you have when you present yourself for screening, even if it's just and as of yet an unresolved anomaly. Dennis is correct, you don't assume a 96 year old lady is going to commit a terrorist act. You assume that it's possible someone may use her as an unknowing mule. If for no other reason, you don't exempt certain classes of people based on that scenario.
But let's say you do decide that certain classes of people would never commit, nor allow themselves to unwittingly be used to commit a terrorist (or smuggling) act. In this day and age of everyone getting offended about everything, how do you set up an iron clad exemption system that would never be abused, misused, misinterpreted by a 48,000 person workforce, or create public indignation? I think we all know the answer to that question. You can't. So you get 96 year old ladies undergoing additional screening. IIRC, the oldest person I saw carrying a loaded firearm they "didn't know" they were carrying was 84 years old. Does that mean no one 85 or older ever does or would forget they're packing? Nope. It just means we haven't seen it, yet.
No one likes the TSA, including me. I'd rather have to go find another job tomorrow if it meant we were no longer necessary. Unfortunately I have too much job security, because people are overly busy, sometimes forgetful and in some cases, downright stupid. Remember, it was illegal to carry a gun or bomb on a plane before 9/11 was even planned. If you bring a gun to security screening at the airport, you might even get a TSA "love letter" signed by me. BTW, that will cost you $3,920, first offense. But we're reasonable people and if we truly believe you just forgot, you admit you screwed up and pay within 30 days, you only have to pay half. Now who said we were unreasonable?
P.S. My job is a huge reason I'm a fierce opponent of off body carry. In 16 years I've only heard of a single case out of tens of thousands nationwide, where the person who "forgot" was packing on person. It's always in a bag or purse and they either "didn't know it was in there" or "forgot it was in there". We even found one once that the guy had "lost" a decade before. We believed him because when we pulled it out, it was covered in filth, rust and the cartridges were corroded into the cylinders. Yeah, we help people find stuff they lost all the time.
The entire Security Screening Process is an outrage imposed on our citizens reminiscent of Nazi, Fascist, Communist and other Totalitarian Regimes of the past and present. Other than in prisons where inmates have surrendered their freedoms and rights as consequences for their behavior, citizens should NEVER be accosted and subjected to any Search or Surveillance Processes at the behest of Government, Corporate Organizations or Private Interests.
I’ve had two experiences with the TSA that left me opposed to their very existence. First, about 17 years ago my Wife traveled back to N. Carolina to visit our 4 year old Grandson and to help our Daughter in Law as our son was deployed on a M.E.U. out of Camp Lejune. My Wife is an ex-Navy Corpswave (Honorable Discharged) and an RN.
Some ignorant, pusillanimous, low life, idiot, offspring of a street prostitute decided to put an -s- on her ticket when she checked in. It subjected her to (Special Screening) at every Stupid Security Checkpoint while she traveled round trip. This caused her to be late and miss flights coming and going and on her return left me about 4 hours outside Tulsa Airport wondering what was wrong.
After we got home, I realized that she was picked on for no damn reason. I called the Airlines (who knew nothing about it) and Security at the TUL (who knew nothing about it) and finally wrote one of our State Senators who ultimately returned a letter stating that it was a Homeland Security Issue (or something) and that his Office never got any answers from them about these matters. Note- she has traveled since with no interference.
Well, I want an explanation and I’m still waiting for it!
Several years later, my Wife and I traveled back to NY from DFW. Going through the Stupid TSA Security Check they wanted me to take off my damn shoes! I’m a Disabled (Honorably Discharged) Veteran and I can’t bend over to take off shoes. My Wife usually helps, but I need to sit down. Anyway, after standing in the line for over fifteen minutes on my crutch, I needed a chair. When I asked for somewhere to sit to take off my shoes the idiots would not let my Wife come with me! The Nazis got annoyed. “You will need to have a Special Screening.”, someone snarled. They took me aside and searched me the way we used to search subjects we were arresting when I was a Deputy Sheriff. Then I had to wait for someone with a Bomb Sniffer (another 15 minutes). I don’t fly anymore.....
All of this is an unnecessary affront to U.S. Citizens. I don’t like it. I would rather take my chances on planes where everyone was armed to the teeth. I would rather risk a fatal catastrophe than to be pawed over by a bunch of monkeys whose aggregate I.Q. wouldn’t break 100. I lived through the years when anyone who officially suggested the need to question the honor and integrity of our citizens would have been shouted out of the room. I personally don’t care what people are carrying on a plane as long as they don’t do any harm with it.
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And your last sentence in that diatribe says it all. Typical.
Would this be the same TSA that harassed Brigadier General Joe Foss (USMC, ret.) about his Medal of Honor on the theory that it could be used as a weapon until a National Guardsman intervened and said, essentially, "son, you have no idea what that is, and this is the closest you'll ever get to one, so let the man pass?"
There's a reason nobody takes TSA seriously. Lots of reasons, actually.
There's a reason nobody takes TSA seriously. Lots of reasons, actually.
