Please check out the new website dedicated to promoting travel freedom in the 2013 Texas Legislative section:
TexasTravelFreedom.com.

The scanners are NOT EFFECTIVE at stopping terrorism

• They do not detect explosive material
• Security experts and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) say that a scanner would not have found, or stopped, the “underwear bomber” or the “shoe bomber”; meanwhile, most checked luggage goes unscreened
• A top Israeli security expert has said that he could get enough explosives through a body scanner to “take down a 747”; Israel’s airports do not use body scanners because they are ineffective

The scanners pose a RISK to PUBLIC HEALTH

• No amount of ionizing radiation is safe, and these kinds of “soft x-rays” are particularly dangerous
• Other types of scanners use “millimeter wave” technology.  Los Alamos National Laboratory reports this non-ionizing radiation has the potential to unzip DNA.
• Multiple scientific studies establish probable risk for mutagenic disease (cancer/autoimmune disorders) from backscatter radiation that can be passed on to offspring.
• The risk is especially great for children, pregnant women, the elderly, AIDS patients… the very people who are least likely to be terrorists

The scanners are UN-CONSTITUTIONAL and ILLEGAL

• The Fourth Amendment protects us against unreasonable searches
• By any legal definition, a strip search (virtual or real) without suspicion of a crime is un-Constitutional
• The scanners create, store, and transmit naked photos of children, which can be considered child pornography
• The enhanced pat-down procedure, also a gross violation of our rights, could be prosecuted as sexual assault if conducted by a private citizen. TSA agents are not deputized and they have not taken an oath to the Constitution.  The enhanced pat-down comes with the body scanners, as the TSA has publicly admitted to using the pat-down to coerce / humiliate “opt-outs” into choosing the scanner instead.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport — and all airports in Texas — should stay free of these blatant violations of our liberty, dignity, and safety.

Please take a few minutes to write the Austin city council, and help keep Austin FREE!