Be Afraid of the No-Fly Lists

[jazzcyclist]

Currently, people on the federal terror watch list are not allowed to fly, but some politicians want to also ban them from buying guns. When the government starts stripping people of their constitutional rights arbitrarily without an explanation and without any means for restoring their rights, we've got problems.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed the first lawsuit to challenge the federal government's no-fly list. Those who appear on the list are not given any explanation of how they ended up on it; nor are they given an opportunity to clear their names. Of the ten citizens and permanent legal residents on whose behalf the ACLU has filed, half are still stranded abroad. The no-fly list has doubled to 8,000 names since the Christmas Day bomber made his failed attempt to blow up an airplane headed for Detroit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 04339.html

[Flumpy]

So at the moment they're not allowed to fly but they are allowed to buy guns???

I'd much prefer it was the other wat round.

[jazzcyclist]

So at the moment they're not allowed to fly but they are allowed to buy guns???

I'd much prefer it was the other wat round.

Unfortunately, the right to fly is not constitutionally protected.

[Daisy]

So at the moment they're not allowed to fly but they are allowed to buy guns???

I'd much prefer it was the other wat round.

Unfortunately, the right to fly is not constitutionally protected.

Can't they fix that with an amendment?

[ppalmer]

When I had a minor problem with TSA people because of a pocketknife I had forgotten was in my carry-on, I complained about my rights. The TSA guy said "When you are at the airport, you have no rights." Fortunately he turned me over to a Chicago policeman, who thought the incident was funny.

Pat Palmer

[lonewolf]

My expatriate Iranian author is not on the No-Fly list but she is on a "watch list" and, despite the governments denial of profiling and that such a list even exists, she is harassed every time she flies or crosses the US/Canadian border. She is now a Canadian citizen living in DC and even though she is a prominent opponent of the Iranian theocracy and a trusted advisor on Middle East affairs to the State Department and several Congressman and Senators, they say they cannot get her removed from the "non-existent" watch list.

[lonewolf]

When I had a minor problem with TSA people because of a pocketknife I had forgotten was in my carry-on, I complained about my rights. The TSA guy said "When you are at the airport, you have no rights." Fortunately he turned me over to a Chicago policeman, who thought the incident was funny.

Pat Palmer

I had a similar experience a couple of years ago.. forgot a pocket knife in my carry-on. TSA did not find it when I boarded plane in OKC, found it in KC when transferring to flight to Seattle. SWA, apparently not concerned about space, solved the problem by putting the knife in a 18" x 18" x 36"corrugated box and checking its as luggage. I had no other checked luggage but waited at the luggage carousel for my box to come down the chute, removed it from the box and walked away.