Let’s start out with the basics: Adolfo Martinez is not a nice guy, from the sound of things.
Most people who burn flags of any sort aren’t. In Martinez’s case, the prior offender was charged and convicted of tearing down an LGBT flag during “pride” month from a liberal church congregation in Ames, Iowa. According to KCCI, back in 2019, he was found guilty of hate crime arson, third-degree harassment, and reckless use of fire, with an additional sentence added on for his status as a habitual offender — 16 years behind bars in total.
If this is a hate crime not worthy of protection under the First Amendment to the Constitution, then, why should burning the American flag be?
That’s what President Donald Trump is asking. On Monday, he signed an order using existing laws to prosecute those who burn Old Glory, saying that the act is “calculated to intimidate and threaten violence” against others.
“The American flag is the most sacred and cherished symbol of the United States of America, and desecrating it is uniquely and inherently offensive and provocative,” a White House fact sheet on the order read.
“It is a statement of contempt and hostility toward our Nation, and an act used by groups of foreign nationals calculated to intimidate and threaten violence against Americans.”
For instance: “Recent protests, including those in Los Angeles in June 2025, have featured flag burning alongside violent acts and other conduct threatening public safety.”
The order allows the U.S. attorney general to “vigorously prosecute” those who burn or desecrate the American flag, Reuters reported.
“If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail, no early exits, no nothing,” Trump said during an Oval Office presser.
In 1989, the Supreme Court held in Texas v. Johnson that burning or other desecration of the American flag — which was prosecutable in most states at the time — was free speech under the First Amendment, albeit by a slim 5-4 vote.
https://www.westernjournal.com/burning-american-flag-free-speech-man-prison-burning-pride-flag/
The post If Burning the American Flag Is Free Speech, Why Is a Man in Prison for Burning a Pride Flag? appeared first on Conservative News & Right Wing News | Gun Laws & Rights News Site
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