No one has a right to steal somebody's else property, whatever it may be, and set it on fire.

It's a crime and should be treated like one. Should it result in 16 years in prison? That seems to depend. Let's look at 2 cases.

An Iowa man was sentenced to serve 16 years behind bars after he tore down a rainbow flag symbolizing gay pride from the front of a church and burned it. Adolfo Martinez, 30, was found guilty of a felony hate crime and third-degree harassment after he tore down the pride flag displayed in front of the United Church of Christ in Ames, Iowa.

Martinez seems to have had at least two priors.

And Martinez also had two prior felonies, meaning he qualified as a "habitual offender" under Iowa's three-strikes law. Reports of Martinez's sentencing do not, unfortunately, explain what those convictions were for. A search through Iowa's court records shows that Martinez had previously been charged with driving without a license (which was dismissed), that he pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license, and that in 2015 he pleaded guilty to dual charges of driving under the influence and possession of marijuana. No violent or serious felonies showed up in the state's records system.

I wouldn't be hugely surprised if he were under the influence at the time when he did it. But he also confessed the crime to the media. And appears to be mentally unstable.

Meanwhile here's what the sentence for burning an actual church looks like.

A member of an African American church in Mississippi has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for burning the church, which was also spray painted with "Vote Trump" a week before the 2016 presidential election. WLBT-TV reports 47-year-old Andrew McClinton was sentenced Thursday in Greenville. Circuit Judge Margaret Carey-McCray also gave him 10 years of supervised release after the 10 in prison. McClinton pleaded guilty to arson on March 28. Investigators said McClinton belonged to the church that was vandalized and burned, Hopewell Missionary Baptist in Greenville. Some initially suspected the fire was a hate crime. But Washington County District Attorney Dewayne Richardson says McClinton was trying to hide illicit activities he had done inside the church.

Should actually setting fire to a church earn a lesser sentence than setting fire to a flag stolen from a church?

Now what happens if you steal and burn an American flag? That happened at the anti-ICE, pro illegal alien, protest in Aurora. And the police did nothing.

A group of folks removed three flags being flown in front of the facility, including the U.S. Flag. The three flags were replaced with the Mexican national flag, a desecrated upside down with some red spray paint written on it thin blue line flag, and a flag that read “F##k the Cops”. This same group attempted to burn the U.S. flag that had been removed from the flag pole... The decision to not intervene at the time was based on protecting the safety of the large majority who were acting peacefully, and the safety of the officers. Our folks were more than ready to decisively engage had we witnessed assaultive behavior or damage to the building or surrounding property that could jeopardize its security or public safety. Beyond the removal, attempted destruction of the US flag, replacement of the flags, and some signs and poles being put on the main doors and windows, the protesters did not engage in behavior that warranted immediate intervention. There are those who believe that once the flags were removed and burned we should have moved in on the massive crowd. I completely share those sentiments, but it’s also important that we are strategic in doing what we can to not escalate a situation to where our officers and innocent protestors could get hurt.

If you steal and burn American flags, the cops will selectively choose not to interfere.

The police have been more active in other cases. Like this one in Tennessee.

A Memphis man was arrested on Tuesday after he allegedly stole an American flag, burned it and then urinated on it, according to a police affidavit. Jordan Demilt, 27, is accused of stealing the flag from a pole on the campus of the Southern College of Optometry at 1245 Madison Avenue, according to the affidavit. A security officer saw a man walking on the north side of the campus. After the officer saw the college's flag was missing from the flagpole he was able to retrieve it from Ellis. The flag had burn marks, holes and a urine odor, according to the affidavit.

It's unclear what actually happened to him. But I suspect it's a whole lot less than 16 years in prison.

But the Left is not against prisons. It's for locking up and throwing away the key over some things. But not others.