Flag Protection Act of 2005

        [Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1974 Introduced in House (IH)]

109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1974

To provide for protection of the flag of the United States.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 28, 2005

Mr. Boucher (for himself and Mr. Schiff) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To provide for protection of the flag of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Flag Protection Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES.

(a) In General.--Section 700 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 700. Protection of the flag of the United States
``(a) Actions Promoting Violence.--Any person who destroys or
damages a flag of the United States with intent to provoke imminent
violence or a breach of the peace, and in circumstances reasonably
likely to produce imminent violence or a breach of the peace, shall be
fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
``(b) Damaging a Flag Belonging to the United States.--Any person
who steals or knowingly converts to his or her use, or to the use of
another, a flag of the United States belonging to the United States and
intentionally destroys or damages that flag shall be fined under this
title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
``(c) Damaging a Flag of Another on Federal Land.--Any person who,
within any lands reserved for the use of the United States, or under
the exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction thereof, steals or knowingly
converts to his or her use, or to the use of another, a flag of the
United States belonging to another person and intentionally destroys or
damages that flag shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than two years, or both.
``(d) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed as
indicating an intent on the part of Congress to deprive any State,
territory, possession, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of
jurisdiction over any offense over which it would have jurisdiction in
the absence of this section.
``(e) Definition.--As used in this section, the term `flag of the
United States' means any flag of the United States, or any part
thereof, made of any substance, of any size, in a form that is commonly
displayed as a flag and would be taken to be a flag by the reasonable
observer.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 33 of
title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking out the item
relating to section 700 and inserting in lieu thereof the following new
item:

``700. Protection of the flag of the United States.''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of the Congress that the States should enact
prohibitions similar to the provisions of this Act in an order to
provide the maximum protection to the flag of the United States.
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