Have We Really Sunk This Low?

I realize the obama administration has a bee in its bonnet regarding the Boy Scouts and their policy that prohibits homosexuals from being Scout Leaders

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Tuesday that the Boy Scouts of America perpetuates “the worst stereotypes” by barring gay people from becoming Scout leaders.

However, regardless of whether or not one agrees with that policy -- one which, by the way, has been upheld by the Supreme Court -- the following story is disturbing on many levels.

Customs and Border agent held Boy Scout at gunpoint

A Boy Scout troop from the nation’s heartland is demanding answers and a U.S. senator is expressing outrage after a group of scouts was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, with one child allegedly held at gunpoint.

Jim Fox, the leader of the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111, said the incident occurred earlier this month at a checkpoint along the Alaska – Canada border. The scouts and their leaders were on a 21-day trek from Iowa to Alaska – a trip that had been three years in the planning.

As their vans were moving through a checkpoint into the United States, one of the scouts snapped a photograph. Agents stopped the van and ordered all the passengers to get out. They told the underage photographer that he had committed a federal crime...

“The agent immediately confiscated his camera, informed him he would be arrested, fined possibly $10,000 and ten years in prison,” Fox told Des Moines television station KCCI.

I don't know if that's true or not. There seems to be some gray area here.

Attorney Angela Campbell said the fine and decade-long prison sentence isn't accurate, and that snapping pictures of border patrol is an evolving area of the law.

"There are some border control policies that are in question as to whether or not it’s a crime to take pictures," Campbell said.

Nevertheless, a little common sense would seem to be appropriate. A bunch of kids in Boy Scout uniforms going from Alaska to Canada don't seem to pose much of a terrorism threat. A responsible response would be to delete the picture, give the kid his camera back, and let them go on. But nooo ... the feds get all Gestapo on the scouts.

During the search, one of the scouts tried to retrieve a bag from the roof carrier. When he turned around, Fox said an agent had a loaded pistol pointed at the child.

“He heard a snap of the holster, turns around, and here’s this agent, both hands on a loaded pistol, pointing at the young man’s head,” Fox told the television station.

... He said he tried to watch the agents search the van but was ordered to return to his vehicle. An agent followed him and told the youngsters “that the next one to leave the van would be handcuffed and detained.”

Fox said he and another member of the troop were interrogated by agents – forced to answer questions about their background.

They also wanted to know why the Boy Scouts were hauling “excessive amounts of lighters, matches and knives,” Fox said. After a lengthy delay, the Scouts were released without any charges being filed.

“excessive amounts of lighters, matches and knives” ... GMAFB! They're Boy Scouts on a camping trip. What did those fools think they were going to do? Attack the Alaska Pipeline with pocket knives and matches?

“The boys were unnecessarily frightened and intimidated,” Fox wrote. “When do we Americans decide enough is enough? The TSA and border guards are a valuable asset to the safety of this country, but to have such Gestapo tactics against a teenage scout is uncalled for.”

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, agrees.

“It’s outrageous that a border patrol agent would point a gun at a boy scout just for taking a picture,” he told the television station. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

The senator’s office said they are looking into the matter.

Robert Hooper, the scout executive for the Mid-Iowa  Council of the BSA, told me they, too, are upset and disturbed by the allegations.

“The guys were in scout uniforms,” he said. “I would like to know what caused this to happen. It does sound pretty extreme.”

Indeed, it does. It’s not like they were attempting to cross into the United States illegally. (emphasis added)

Here's a thought. Why not draw weapons on the illegals currently flooding across our southern border, and leave Boy Scouts on camping trips to Alaska alone?

Maybe because Boy Scouts will probably grow up to be responsible and productive members of society, and illegals will go on to be democrat voters...