Jeremiah Smith: “Turning to the substance of the McConnell amendment, I find that it fails to protect the flag or the people who revere…”

“Turning to the substance of the McConnell amendment, I find that it fails to protect the flag or the people who revere it. This is a very narrow proposal. In order to be prosecuted under the statute Senator McConnell has proposed, one must: No. 1, intentionally destroy or damage the flag with an intent to incite or produce imminent violence or breach of the peace; No. 2, one must steal and intentionally destroy a flag belonging to the United States; or, No. 3, one must steal or intentionally destroy someone else's flag on Federal property. Now if you come to the conclusion that I have--and I think we all have on both sides--that flag desecration is wrong, why limit the desecration to those instances I just cited? Why make it legal to burn a flag in front of a crowd that loves flag desecration or on television or at some safe distance and yet make it illegal to burn a flag in front of people who would be upset? That is what is happening here.”