Image source: (CNN)

BY JENNIFER MECKLES

Outrage over child screenings by airport TSA agents has been building for months, ever since a 6-year-old was pat down in New Orleans in April. (Video: ABC)

Now -- thanks, in part to her parents’ public activism -- the TSA is changing it’s rules about child screening. But first to the original interview on ABC’s Good Morning America.

“... We were really struggling with -- how do we explain this? Because we have really stressed to her -- it’s not ok to to touch, be touched here in certain places, and now she’s been pat down in a  public setting. And she was upset and crying, and we had to try to explain this to her. It was very difficult.”

And while the TSA will not halt all child pat downs, in an announcement Wednesday -- the agency said it will try to avoid them. Here’s KTTV:

“TSA officials say airport security workers will be told to make repeated attempts to screen young children without the pat-down--”

“The world we’re in, huh?”

“This new guideline will be applied to the elderly as well.”

But why screen kids at all? The TSA warns terrorists can and will use children as suicide bombers. Former TSA Security Director Billie Vincent tells USA Today -- the agency must walk a fine line between keeping the public safe - and not overly offending anyone.

“Vincent says intrusive pat-downs would rarely be needed if Congress would stop considering profiling ‘a dirty word’ and allow the TSA to profile everyone — including young children's parents — before a flight. Pat-downs would be needed only for young children whose parents raise a red flag during the profiling process, he says.”

Not wanting to wait for federal action -- Texas is set to consider its own anti-groping bill. But this piece of legislation would prevent everyone from TSA pat downs, not just children. Austin’s KVUE explains the fed isn’t thrilled about individual state action:

“The idea, itself, is not new -- but neither are some of the hurdles that still face this bill in the special session. The federal government has gone so far as to threaten to shut down air travel out of Texas airports if this bill becomes law.

And as the TSA relaxes policy on children and the elderly in airports -- reports now the agency has requested more funding to add screening at other modes of transportation -- like buses, trains, and subway lines.

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