Originally Posted by
law dawg
Super, I agree with you here, but my question is - what should the TSA do then when they encounter say, a gun? Obviously the pax can't fly with it, but should they then not call the LEOs, since it's only an admin search?
Or what, to use a reducto ad absurdum example, a human head in a carry on? No LEOs? Where is the line drawn, on both sides of the question?
Don't want to hijack this thread too much, I'm just curious as to your take.
I would think that all the TSA has to do is to place yet another series of signs before entering the checkpoint stating something to the effect that anything illegal that a screener finds during the course of the screening process (including the SPOTniks) will result in possible arrest. That way, the TSA would cover themselves, I would think, against possible 4th Amendment law suits. However, the TSA couldn't continue to perform mission creep, and, the signs themselves probably wouldn't pass any sort of Department of Justice legal muster.
So, it's in the TSA's best interest to just keep doing what they are doing betting on the prospect that their practices (i.e.: mission creep) will never be successfully challenged in court. Considering that their culture is cop-wanna' be (remember Magaw?), this somehow makes sense.