Worrying that banning flag desecration would inhibit free speech reveals a misunderstanding of the flag's fundamental nature.
The electronic spectrum is the only natural resource in which there's no such thing as private property rights. You can't own a piece of the spectrum.
Our flag is not just one of many political points of view. Rather, the flag is a symbol of our national unity.
A corollary is that, when laws are out of touch with the people, those laws can and should be changed - from the most simple local regulations to the highest law of the land, our federal Constitution.
It is the will of the American people that we have a right to protect our flag and this can only be accomplished by passing a Constitutional amendment.
Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't carry just a piece of cloth to symbolize his belief in racial equality; he carried the American flag.