Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is crafting legislation to impose additional penalties against those who burn the American flag while committing another crime, such as inciting violence or endangering others.
The effort by the former Missouri attorney general has gained traction after recent flag-burning during violent protests in Los Angeles against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation operation.
“If you burn the flag in furtherance of a crime, then you get an enhancement to your sentence,” Hawley told the Washington Examiner. “If you incite violence by burning the flag, if you put other people’s lives in danger by burning the flag, then you get penalized for it.”
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Burning the American flag, as a general act, is protected speech under the Constitution’s First Amendment. The Supreme Court in 1989
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