As noted by the heroic Austro-anarchist Texan Norman Horn at the Stop Austin Scanners! site, this is Texas’s critical “‘Come and Take It’ Moment.”
As noted on the site:
On May 24, 2011, the Texas Senate read on the floor for the first time HB 1937, which bans the TSA and any other State or Federal Government official from using a “pat-down” without probable cause as a condition for entering an airplane or a public building.
Earlier that Tuesday, the US Department of Justice delivered a letter to the Speaker of the House Joe Straus and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst threatening the State of Texas with legal action if they passed this bill:
If HR 1937 were enacted, the federal government would likely seek an emergency stay of the statute. Unless or until such a stay were granted, TSA would likely be required to cancel any flight or series of flights for which it could not ensure the safety of passengers and crew.
Let’s be absolutely clear here: the Federal Government just threatened to make Texas a no-fly zone if they can’t sexually assault us.
During the hearing, Senator Patrick, one of the Senate bill’s sponsors, defended HB 1937 and denounced the DOJ’s actions as threatening and insulting. Indeed, the Federal Government is not allowed to lobby for legislation in any state, yet here they are not only lobbying but threatening us! Finally, Patrick called this a “Come and Take It” moment in front of the entire Senate.
Yet despite his impassioned speech in support of the bill, Senator Patrick withdrew the bill from consideration that evening, not even allowing it to come to a vote.
The feds’ brazen and unconstitutional, illegal threats against Texas ought to shock the conscience, but unfortunately, it’s no surprise that the feds do not want to stand for states actually asserting their constitutional rights–that is, limits on federal power. In an email blast Horn implores those who “care about stopping the TSA from standardizing molestation as a condition to travel” to go to http://stopaustinscanners.org/come-and-take-it/ and let Texas Senators and the Lt. Governor know they should support the anti-TSA legislation.
The plot thickens.
8:47 am on May 25, 2011
