Manuse: TSA Violates My Right to Bear Arms on a Plane

On his flight to the ALEC Task Force Summit in Charlotte, state Rep. Andrew Manuse chose to opt out of the backscatter scan while passing through security. It was, he claimed, an act of passive resistance against a violation of his “constitutional rights to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures.”

By choosing … to go for an invasive full body pat down when asked to step through a simple backscatter screening machine, we are asserting our own authority and taking control of a lose-lose situation. … I was born free as an American. And I will die free, too, as an individual sovereign man, under the authority of my Almighty God alone.

Manuse believes that his constitutional rights include the right to board a commercial flight without a security check. In fact, Manuse believes the security check is unnecessary because he believes he, and all of his fellow passengers, have a constitutional right to carry a gun on the plane!

Regardless of whether I chose to go through the backscatter machine or opt-out for the pat down, my rights would be violated: My right to travel freely without interference would be violated. My right to bear arms to protect myself from terrorists on the plane or anyone or anything else would be violated. My right to be free from unreasonable searches without probable cause and a warrant indicating the items that were the subject of the search would be violated. My right to be innocent until proven guilty would be violated. [Emphasis added]

Comparing his actions to acts of passive resistance that “brought about the greatest religion in the world, … freed India from the caste system [and] brought light to the plight of former slaves in the Southern United States,” Manuse urges others to follow his lead “if we are ever to restore our liberties.”

Oh, my.