Sgt, burning the flag isn't assaulting anyone or harming anyone. Physically no one is being effected by it except maybe the moron accedentally burns himself in the process. It is true that maybe some people would be offended by the burning of the flag. But you have to keep in mind that virtually any political expression can and probably would offend somebody. On the basis that you ban the burning of the flag because it offends people, is on the lines of banning virtually all political free speech because it offends people. The freedom to burn the flag is much different in the "freedom" to cut someone's head off in protest. The difference being is that the burning of the flag is by all means a peaceful symbolic protest, while the latter is murder (even though it was still a protest). The Supreme Court has upheld numerous times people's right to symbolic protest, and the burning of the flag as protected under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

Saying you want to amend the Constitution is automatically admiting that under the Constutition currently, the burning of the flag is lawful and an American right. If Congress were to only pass a law if favor of banning the burning of the flag, then any joe that was charged for doing so can challenge it to the courts and have charges dropped and that law would be overturned.

Also, it is very much true that our men and women of the Armed Forces served under that flag. But you must also come to terms with the fact that they fought for what the flag stands for, and not necessarily the cloth itself. They have sworn to defend their country and Constitution. It is therefore only a desecration onto their sacrifices if you ban a Constitutional right, rather than the burning of the flag. Because ideas are fire-proof, Sgt. I'm not morally weakened if I see someone burn the flag because I know that their views are skewed, at least in my point of view. They can burn the flag all they want and they are not destroying what the flag stands for, they are only burning the cloth. And in that sense the flag is not being destroyed but lives on. However, banning a freedom and a right is doing direct damage to what the flag stands for and what it is.

And yes, I would any day risk my life to defend what the flag stands for and not just the flag itself, if it is in danger, because I am an American who loves his country and his rights. And with such a Congress that would trample our freedoms and rights in the name of "security", and because such things might "offend someone", I feel as if our government is becoming more and more a domestic enemy of the state. I just hope it does not go that far.