Flag Desecration.....should it be outlawed?

[DieAz]

perhaps the SCOTUS or Congress should clarify that by speech or press means forms of communication. if they don't, well............ then I would find them in violation of Title 18 USC section 242.

 If you can't write it down, you're not speaking. You are acting.
 It is the spoken word and the written word. Nothing else.

these statements I find despicable.
some of the Deaf and Mute communicate by the means of hand sign languages, and these statements, in this context, are deplorable.

[Holden McGroin]

You should have as much right to burn the flag as you would to burn other symbols of our country.

Burn the Lincoln Memorial.
Set fire to the White House.
Burn the money in your pocket.
Burn the Constitution itself.
Set fire to a flock of Bald Eagles.
Go start a fire in Arlington National Cemetary.

You wouldn't get far burning any of these things.

Burning the flag is not speech. If you can't write it down, you're not speaking. You are acting.
That's why the First Amendment protects free Speech and Press. It is the spoken word and the written word. Nothing else.

If I owned the Lincoln memorial or the White House, not collectively but it they were mine personally, I would have the right to destroy them.

If I buy a flag, it is mine.   I can destroy or cherish it, it is my fabric.

[Shuffler]

Your spreading cow manure pretty thin claiming burning anything is free speech. Any 5 year old can tell you the difference.

Many lawyers have problems with this but that is because stupidity is so ingrained in them that common sense checked out long ago.

[lazs2]

aren't federal buildings a political symbol?   why not burn them?

lazs

[cav58d]

The Flag is a symbol of the United States..... to desecrate it means you are against all freedoms and unity that the United States stands for.
In fact it makes the culprit a traitor to the US.

What about flag boxer shorts, underwear or thongs?  Should we make them illegal? 

[cav58d]

Therefore being against all freedom and unity is protected under the constitution.....it's free speech.

Here's another question...Couldn't the wearing of an American Flag (I.E. American flag underwear with skid marks, Bandannas that soak up sweat, handkerchief to wipe boogers from your nose) be considered desecration? I could almost guarantee that one of you guys reading this post has an American flag piece of clothing.

arghh...beat me to it!

[ROX]

Having flag desecration not be illegal speaks volumes for a country.  Any country that establishes itself as a nation that has rights, and then turns around and calls a peaceful act of protest illegal seems hypocritical.

Sure, it pains many Americans to see our fellow countrymen burn our own flag...but many men (and sometimes women) fought & died so that they could have that right.

These folks who picket and protest at funerals are a sorry bunch...yet it's within their rights to do so.  All it does is show you their true character.

If you had the chance to invite one of the two choices below into your home for a home cooked meal and a couple of hours of conversation which one would you choose to associate with?

A)  A funeral protester that shows no respect for the flag

B)  A soldier who has volunteered to serve their country.

[lazs2]

good point holden.. I will concede it.

Will you concede that if you do something that would offend a reasonable man that it is a cause for an assault?

The "N" word...  burning a flag... both speech by your defenition and both protected.   

I still don't see a physical act as speech but.. no matter to me.   I don't even care if some dufus wants to burn the flag..  I simply hate the hypocracy of anyone who would do so but wants to make the "N" word (for instance) illegal.   

I am all for free speech.. I just don't think most of it's so called advocates really are.

lazs

[USRanger]

Personally, rights be damned.  If I see anyone ever burning my flag, I will beat them to a bloody pulp.  No question.  Some may not understand this.  I don't ask them to.  But I've spilled MY blood for MY country, My flag.  Burning the flag is the biggest slap in the face to any vet of any era who gave you that right.  How dare they!  Flag burning should equal immediate enlistment and deployment.  My personal choice would be firing squad for them, but we gotta keep America wussified, right?  Remember, rights always outweigh respect, morality and patriotism any day.  Pathetic.

[BaDkaRmA158Th]

Burn my flag where ever you want (that is your right), just dont burn it on my soul.(that is my right)
People who do need a boot to the head, BIG time.(IMHO)

I would also go to giving anyone NOT in the military or law inforcement found wearing a mask, or trying to hide there identity INSTANT 5-10 years in jail. The police and military should hold that right to keep people's indentitys secret who serve the government or the civilian population.
I would want a thug takin' out a Swat member because he helped conduct a raid on his buddy joe joe's crack house.
And like wise, i cannot see why anyone would have the need to hide ones face if there actions are truely just and right.

Your dang right the people who burn my flag on my soul hide there faces, heaven help them if i ever catch them walkin' down my sidewalk.


But thats just my crack pot views on things.

[Shuffler]

People who burn the Flag are not my fellow countrymen... but the lowest scum on earth. Hipocritical scum to boot.

[texasmom]

What about flag boxer shorts, underwear or thongs?  Should we make them illegal? 

It's actually not proper at all to wear the flag as a piece of clothing at all.

[Holden McGroin]

Personally, rights be damned.  If I see anyone ever burning my flag, I will beat them to a bloody pulp.

And unless you are a representative of government, working in a governmental capacity, you beating me up for burning the flag is not an infringment of my constitutional right to free speech, it would be simple assault and battery.

When congress passes a law that says I cannot burn the flag, THAT is what is prohibited by the 1st amendment.

[Holden McGroin]

It's actually not proper at all to wear the flag as a piece of clothing at all.

A breech of etiquette is not illegal.

[Darkish]

At this moment in time is not burning the flag just a breech of ettiquette?

There is a great danger in placing import on symbols. America is more than a flag, the American way is more than a country.

As a bastion of democracy, the right of the individual, some here have posted with the rabid fanaticsim of jihad.