TSA: Nipple rings a terrorist risk?
posted at 10:15 am on March 28, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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A Texas woman had to remove her nipple rings with pliers before being allowed to board a flight in Lubbock, and has now filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Agency for the incident. Mandi Hamlin says she was publicly humiliated, but TSA insists that it followed its procedures, even though their website notes that passengers can opt for a private pat-down as an alternative to removing piercings and other body jewelry:
Hamlin, 37, said she was trying to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on Feb. 24 when she was scanned by a Transportation Security Administration agent after passing through a larger metal detector without problems.
The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin’s chest, the Dallas-area resident said.
Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent then called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.
Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was out, she said.
She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.
“Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her,” said Hamlin’s attorney, Gloria Allred, reading from a letter she sent Thursday to the director of the TSA’s Office of Civil Rights and Liberties. Allred is a well-known Los Angeles lawyer who often represents high-profile claims.
I understand that TSA has to follow its guidelines strictly in order to maintain flight security. I fly a few times every year, and the knowledge that we have tough screening makes me feel better about getting on airplanes, although I am at best a white-knuckle flier. It’s a tough job made tougher by passengers who unreasonably object to the screening processes.
Having said all that, how does a nipple ring constitute a threat to flight security? Unless someone has created a breast bomb, a nipple piercing should be of no consequence to TSA. Hamlin even offered to have the TSA agent conduct a visual inspection, and would have consented to a pat-down. Instead of taking a common-sense approach to the issue, the TSA agents and their management have used a “rules are rules” defense that show the need to revise the rules for sanity.
Hamlin still boarded the flight with her navel piercing installed. One could only imagine what would have happened had Hamlin had other, more intimate piercings at the security stop in Lubbock.
We need tight security for our air travel, but we need to ensure that those enforcing it remain focused on actual security rather than just the rules. Someone owes Hamlin an apology. (photo via Instapundit)
Update: I’ve been reading the comments, and I think we’re missing the point. The purpose of the pre-flight screening is to eliminate security threats, not to enforce a no-jewelry policy. If someone can show how a nipple bar or ring could constitute a security threat, then I’d be sympathetic to the notion that they have to be removed before the flight. Shoes and water bottles can hold material that could be used in an attack, as can jackets, bags, and so on. If nipple bars present no threat, why should TSA be concerned about them? Shouldn’t they be focused on real threats?
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Oh please! How did some Americans come to have such a low opinion of their fellow citizens doing a job to make a living?
The next time a US passenger plane is hijacked or blown from the sky will be the first time since 9/11. Keep that in mind when you feel the need to dump on these people who are just trying to keep the public flying safe and feed their families. As for the woman who doesn’t want to take a minute to remove removable jewelry from her nipples? While she’s a hero of coarse! Give me a break.
TheBigOldDog on March 28, 2008 at 3:15 PM
I hate to ask, but will this now become known as the Allred Nipple Flareup?
James on March 28, 2008 at 3:20 PM
Still engaging in straw man arguments. If you have a complaint about TSA’s rules and regulations address them to TSA, not to me.
If I worked for TSA and found patting someone down so morally repugnant then I’d quit. The same for LEO’s, MD’s, and others in similar situations. It’s an individual choice.
TooTall on March 28, 2008 at 3:31 PM
Because the TSA were afraid she would then say “When I said they could pat me down, I didn’t mean they could RAPE me with their hands”. She’d get the same lawyer and still sue the TSA.
The story is stupid though. No question about it.
freevillage on March 28, 2008 at 3:40 PM
to TheBigOldDog on March 28, 2008 at 3:08 PM:
You imply the body piercing jewelry was safely and easily removed.
In fact, these items are not intended to be casually removed and replaced. It is not hygenically safe to remove this type of piercing without clean intruments, hands, and the body area properly cleansed, nor is it easy.
Tissues grow around the jewelry making removal difficult and painful. Scarring resulting from not only the original placement, but the removal itself complicates reinsertion. It causes signfigant pain, increases risk of tissue damage and infection, and should be performed by a professional liscensed individual.
Removal should only be contemplated if the removal is to be permanent, or to perform medical testing that would be unsafe or impeded by the jewelry.
It’s shocking that sguards insisted she remove the jewelry on the spot in order to board her flight. Published TSA guidelines inform passengers that they might be asked to remove jewelry, but only if they do not wish to submit to a pat-down search. There are no published TSA guidelines informing passengers that body piercing in breasts or genitals will be a bar to air-travel when left in place, or that the passenger may not elect a pat-down search.
If there are no procedures in place to permit guards to check intimate apparel or body areas when body jewelry trips the scanning wand alarms, there should be.
SarahW on March 28, 2008 at 3:54 PM
OOppsss… watchin Cavuto…
Got em on right now, and the TSA has made a statement that they are fixing their policy… to be able to do a visual inspection if thats what the passenger wants…
So… apparently the TSA thinks she’s right too…
Romeo13 on March 28, 2008 at 4:28 PM
The TSA stands out in two ways: they control your very important time, and have the power to act in unreasonable ways with impunity.
Most of us have experienced petty inconveniences, but many of us are also being physically hurt, and/or humiliated. This needs to stop.
A reasonable TSA would expect the very best from staff trained to serve and not process the public… Yeah right. Government bureaucracy reforms itself.
I fear that most voters do not want to know how corrupt the richest government Empire in history really is. Otherwise they might ask a basic question: Why do we need a 3 trillion dollar government? Where the hell is our money going?
Ah well, a
nipplenickel for your thoughts.Randy
williars on March 28, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Looking for boobs and not bombs.
Kini on March 28, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Any sympathy I had is now gone.
malan89 on March 28, 2008 at 4:43 PM
Yowch I can relate, I have a belly ring that I couldn’t get out without pliers either.
Keli on March 28, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Romeo13 on March 28, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Or they just don’t want to get sued everytime someone insists on their right to fly with a piece of metal in their nipple.
Spolitics on March 28, 2008 at 5:20 PM
The way to end all of this happy horsesh&t is that everyone is given a gun before getting on the plane. Right there at the gate. When you reach your destination/get off the plane, you return it at the gate. That way everyone is armed and guareented that no bullshit will occur.
Any uprising will be put down immediately. Of course, means no alcohol.
cjs1943 on March 28, 2008 at 5:57 PM
What if they aren’t silicon-filled bags in breast enhancements? What if they’re nitroglycerine or something? Can we risk letting women with boob jobs on planes? Would you get nervous if a 38-D sat next to you on the plane knowing that her chest could explode? Seriously, folks…
NNtrancer on March 28, 2008 at 7:36 PM
I don’t know, but I do know I’d have to keep a close eye on her…just in case.
James on March 28, 2008 at 7:52 PM
I never set off a metal detector while my nipples were pierced (wearing an underwire, no less). However, I agree with those that have stated that certain piercings are not meant to be casually removed. The first time I got mine pierced, one got ripped out by snagging on clothing, and after I replaced the piercing I used pliers to ensure the metal would not snag again. When I finally removed them, it took about an hour to work the metal apart. Point is, it’s not like you’re just taking the frog off the back of an earring post or something similiar.
There seems to be a bias against this woman because she chose to pierce her nipples. She might like pain, but it doesn’t mean she likes humiliation (the two do not have to be linked). I don’t agree with her lawyering up, but the TSA violated its own rules. Somebody needs to hold them accountable; it seems that some here are upset that the person to do that is not a conservative, God-fearing model citizen.
And to the zhopa that suggested that the obese also be banned from flying - I would like to say a few things to you, but I don’t wish to be banned from this site. I think people who paint strangers with such a broad brush should think before they post (even anonymously), but obviously my fat has clouded my sense of reason.
the goddess anna on March 28, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Had she pulled a pin of a gerneade, TSA would have been fools. Watch out for the man bo@bs.
ackrite55 on March 28, 2008 at 8:20 PM
Seriously, Pepsi just shot out of my nose. God that was funny.
TimboJackson on March 28, 2008 at 8:38 PM
Kinda like the pin on a grenade. I’ll leave it at that!
Zorro on March 28, 2008 at 8:42 PM
If I hear Alred on one more radio program, I’m going to puke. I’ve heard her on 5 shows shilling for her phony lawsuit.
Blake on March 28, 2008 at 8:44 PM
And some people want government to handle their healthcare???????
Harry Schell on March 28, 2008 at 8:54 PM
Who would’ve thunk it…media whore Gloria Allred taking the case so she can be on camera some more. Big shock there.
Carl on March 28, 2008 at 9:04 PM
Talk about an uprising…
Truly, I respect in principle what the TSA is trying to do (they would be far more effective if they were a private organization), but they seemed to have banned basic sense. The last time I flew, since the inception of the “Ziploc baggie” rule, I had to throw out a sample-sized hair spray because it was not in a Ziploc. Never mind that it would have fit in a Ziploc, nor that I could have removed it immediately after the inspection–the fact that it was not in a Ziploc was the sole focus of the government employee. A dozen suspicious-looking Arabs could have meandered past me without question, because a raised eyebrow would be heinous profiling, but the little bottle of Pantene in the purse of the WASPiest WASP ever was cause for alarm.
DrMagnolias on March 28, 2008 at 9:53 PM
nipple rings are gross and unattractive
except on strippers
Drunk Report on March 28, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Please remove this post. The “victim” look on this chic’s face is pissing me off, then looking over at Attorney Hates-a-Man only reinforces my nausea. This picture should be prosecuted for indecent exposure. Pun intended.
THE CHOSEN ONE on March 29, 2008 at 1:16 AM
EVERYTIME i fly out of Lubbock I get searched. EVERYTIME! No other airport, big city or small, has done this to me. Lubbock TSA staff are a-holes.
Bruce Hendrix on March 29, 2008 at 9:39 AM
I lived in Lubbock for years and have flown out of there numerous times. Never had a problem. I have had my bag searched twice in San Diego. I hadn’t shaved over the weekend is probably why!
I think the TSA has already admitted they are wrong here by readdressing their policy. What happened to this woman is inexcusable. You can treat people with respect and have adequate security. They are not mutually exclusive. I think that is the case the vast majority of the time. This instance, not so much.
Ordinary1 on March 29, 2008 at 10:00 AM
TheBigOldDog on March 28, 2008 at 3:15 PM wrote
There was a story a few years back in Reason magazine about TSA. TSA’s motto is “Dominate, Intimidate, Control”.
However, BigOldDog forgot the key part of the motto, “Dominate, Intimidate, Control, Knowledgeably”
The ego of a screener is stroked to think they are the key to securing the country using the tactics depicted by the first three descriptors of their motto. Unforturnatly, an inflated ego begins to run a muck when left unchecked because they fail to be knowledgeable of their place in the entire process of protecting this country.
Once could make the case that they are mercenaries without weapons. And a defenseless person often feels helpless and often resort to Intimidation as their weapon of choice.
MSGTAS on March 29, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Just wait until Prince Albert hears about this.
Buttercup on March 29, 2008 at 10:39 AM
“When nipples attack”?
hahahhahahhhaahhaahahahhaahahahahahahahahahahaha
where do i sign up?
TheCulturalist on March 29, 2008 at 1:56 PM
It takes a special kind of stupid to pose for a picture with a notorious, nationwide publicity whore, and scream “Hi, I stick sharp jewelry through my nipples just for fun!”
Jaibones on March 29, 2008 at 2:31 PM
Gloria Allred + 2×4 to the grape = Nirvavna.
BallisticBob on March 29, 2008 at 8:53 PM
It’s easier and more fun to make harmless women remove their intimate jewelry than to defeat Islam. In a short-term view of things, the Americans’ federal rulers have undoubtedly made a good decision in this matter. And by “good,” I mean “good for themselves.”
Kralizec on March 29, 2008 at 9:15 PM
I lived in Lubbock for a year back in the early ’90’s. In that year,
*One public middle-school got in trouble because they sent home a Jewish kid who was wearing a star of David pendant. They thought it was a pentacle, ie. a Satanic symbol.
*An Indian kid (Yaki)–he was 16-17 (my next door neighbor), was cooling his heels because they wouldn’t let him back into the high school because of his hair. According to him it was a religious thing in his culture.
*After first outlawing heavy -metal T-shirts, but then learning they couldn’t do that, as a free-speech issue, they outlawed black T-shirts, no matter what they had on them.
In some ways I liked Lubbock–nice people–but anything you want to tell about that place, I would believe.
smellthecoffee on March 30, 2008 at 1:32 AM
Another problem with “Thousand Standing Around, Taking Stuff Away” is the fact that they have the ability to set the magnetometers to various degrees of sensitivity.
When set to a low setting one can walk through with a couple keys (house or car not 2.2 lbs) and not set it off. On its highest setting it will catch any material that is capable of reflecting the signal such as alumina foil (gum wrapper). Also if there is draft the wind can set the machine off if sufficient to shake the machine. However, Once the signal goes off they are obligated to wand you with their cattle prod which is also has several sensitivity settings compounding the problem if they are set counter to one another.
The goal beep once, beep twice, and you are guilty until a strip search proves you innocent while the screener get their kicks.
I have had both of my knees replaced and when I show them my medical card they ignor it, and when I set of the magnetometer because of the titanium caps, they prod me until they get to my knees and then they want me to strip and show them my scars and to touch the knees as if they know what a skilled surgeon knows.
I have seen these intolerant people tell veterans with prosthetic devices to remove them to assure they are not concealing anything, however if that vet smacked them upside the head they could kill em. So are prosthetic devices concealed deadly weapons?
I also have seen them shut down the entire screening process delaying over 500 people for 20 minutes because they could not recognize a heating pad as a heating pad and never asking the obvious question of the owner-is there anything in you bag that has wires encased in material and a switching device? OH! that would be my heating pad.
No, they had to call the bomb expert in which took several minutes, and at no time did they even think of moving people away from this suspected device.
MSGTAS on March 30, 2008 at 11:06 AM
I notice more and more the “rules are rules” approach is only for the average schmuck! While we are ever more being watched and pressed to the limit, the rest of the elites and ruling class can get away with hiding bribe money in their offices and freezers, punch police officers in the capital, ram their cars while drunk into police barricades and then lie about why you are doing it,, and on and on.
We of course are destroying even the earth with our barbecues and SUV! The ruling class and elites, though, are free to jet around the world appearing in spotlights on camera eating the finest foods, because, well, they’re the ruling class and the elites.
JellyToast on March 30, 2008 at 1:28 PM
I doubt that nipple jewelry could ever be a problem….but as an index of totally nutcase women, who are a problem even if they’re not terrorists, a piece of metal stuck through her nipple should be high on the list of indicators.
Proof is that she called Gloria Allred. Unless Gloria just happened to be standing there with her own teeny weeny pliers.
Yuch! to the whole thread.
rascalfair on March 30, 2008 at 2:17 PM
The only thing more stupid than the TSA on this issue are the commenters who somehow think this woman is somehow wrong for having her nipples pierced OR sueing the TSA. The employees obviously wanted a peep show as they could have easily used the common sense rule and fixed this w/o a major incident… which they didn’t. I am very much against the sue-happy culture and think it has played a large part of ruining our society…
BUT GOOD GOD PEOPLE! This is NOT like CAIR suing to stop “profiling”. It is NOT an attempt to degrade security. Having the TSA screeners actually treat people with respect and not humiliate them when there are perfectly reasonable alternatives does NOT make our planes less safe.
I say she should win her suit. Award her a dollar and make the employees involved strip in front of a full court… then fire the supervisor who made the call. He is unfit to supervise others.
BadBrad on March 31, 2008 at 6:27 AM
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