Presumably that would prevent you from a monetary recovery in a civil action.
The only way you could get satisfaction when CG steals and burns your flag is by going over to his house and sneaking up behind him with a D-handle shovel for an appropriate "blow for freedom".
That's one of the defects in the USSC decision that has concerned many right-minded people on both sides of the flag burning issue. Sure, it misrepresented flag burning as permitted political protest, but the nature of the case said the protester could steal the flag and there's nothing you could do about it.
This may, in fact, have deterred many possible flag burners. They know that no one is going to wait for the cops ~ they'll just take it as "fighting words" and cap 'em.
"It didn't belong to the protester. The USSC ruled in such a way that if CarolinaGuitarman stole your flag and burned it in a public protest, he could not be touched by the law."
Don't be a coward and post about me without pinging me.