A few days ago I called out President Elect Giant Middle Finger for suggesting in a tweet that there should be legal consequences for flag burners. Well, looky here:
S.1911 – Flag Protection Act of 2005
“(c) Flag burning.—Any person who shall intentionally threaten or intimidate any person or group of persons by burning, or causing to be burned, a flag of the United States shall be fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned for not more than 1 year, or both.
Hmmm. Now, I wonder who might have sponsored that bit of (ultimately failed) legislation.
Sponsor: Sen. Bennett, Robert F. [R-UT]
| Cosponsor | Date Cosponsored |
|---|---|
| Sen. Clinton, Hillary Rodham [D-NY]* | 10/24/2005 |
| Sen. Boxer, Barbara [D-CA] | 06/27/2006 |
| Sen. Carper, Thomas R. [D-DE] | 06/27/2006 |
| Sen. Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR] | 09/28/2006 |
Hmmm.
HMMM.
Now, one might argue that the caveat here is that the law specifies that the flag burnin must be done as a threat or form of intimidation. Well, guess what: like being offended, intimidation is pretty much in the eye of the beholder. If you burn an effigy of *me,* I could take that as intimidation. Well… as an American, I could interpret burning a flag as a symbolic burning of the US, which means you’re burning all of the US in effigy, which I could theoretically take as intimidation. Plus, there’s this:
“(b) Actions promoting violence.—Any person who destroys or damages a flag of the United States with the primary purpose and intent to incite or produce imminent violence or a breach of the peace, and under circumstances in which the person knows that it is reasonably likely to produce imminent violence or a breach of the peace, shall be fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.
Burning a flag is free speech. But it is arguably also “fightin’ words.” If you burn a flag within sight of a veteran, for instance, chances are good he’ll take the opportunity to apply boot to ass… and you know this. So if you burn a flag and get your ass handed to you by a PO’ed biker, under Angry Grandmas Flag Burnin’ Law, you could *also* get fined a hundred grand and tossed into the hoosegow for a year.