Bald

How come you can get jail time for shooting the bald eagle but a rasied eyebrow for burning the American flag?

this doesnt make sense to me. *raised eyebrow. sorry nickolassc- check current and recent facts, the population of the bald eagle is no longer considered on the verge to being extinct or threatened.

Public Comments

1. American flags can be mass-produced by some of the finest factories in China. Not so with bald eagles.
2. Birds of prey are protected species.. Unfortunately, our flag is not.
3. Well if I am not mistaken, the bald eagle is a threatened species. It is more than just a freedom of speech issue here. I don't know about that raised eyebrow part for burning a flag though, I know they would get more from me if I ever saw someone do it.
4. The Bald Eagle is an endangered species. The flag isn't. You can buy a new one at Wal-mart...made in China.
5. I am assuming because one is an endangered American icon that lives and breathes while the other american icon is made of fabric.
6. I hope we never give jail time to people who burn a flag.
7. Because killing a bald eagle is not viewed as "symbolic speech" in First Amendment terms. There are many who would say that the symbolic speech doctrine should be scrapped, but there are the precedents there and every time you give politicians more power, it works out bad.
8. The bald eagle is an endangered species.....I would never burn a flag, as I find it reprehensible. Not sure what people get out of it
9. Because the flag is simply a symbol, and an eagle is part of the system that allows humans to survive on this planet.
10. Bald eagles are an endangered species, flags, a commodity easily manufactured, and, an inanimate object.
11. Bald eagle is an endangered animal. There are no actual laws about the presentation or desecration of the flag - only ethics and standards.
12. One, a bald eagle is protected under the Endangered Species Act. Besides that, shooting a bird for the heck of it is downright animal cruelty. Burning the flag (under political protest) is protected speech, unless if it is done as an act of vandalism, which is of course, against the law. It's unreasonable to compare the harming of living creatures to the supposed desecration of an inanimate object.
13. Because this country has mixed-up morals, and because freedom of expression has been pushed to the absolute limites of decency. It used to be a punishable offense to burn the flag until the late '80s or early '90s.
14. A flag is a symbol. An eagle is a living thing. Flags don't feel pain when they are burned.