Quote Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown View Post
The downside, if there is one, is that at a distance of even a few feet your "light weight" USMC cap badge looks very much like the circlet used to surround the crest of an armiger.
I would be curious what kilts thescot wears this badge with? If for instance with the Leatherneck tartan, one might expect it to be USMC related; if with a clan tartan then I would take your point, though I would hope any gentleman who had possible exception to it would take the time to discern that it was in fact no way clan related (other than US Marines being a rather clannish group) and thus that no disrepect was intended.

A related question, as I know little of heraldry. Would one be guilty of anything other than poor taste and disrespect of tradition if they were to wear a plain circlet cap badge or use another's arms in the US? I gather that there are some criminal or civil penalties for doing so in Scotland? Please note that I have no intentions of doing so, in fact I own neither bonnet nor badge, but am just curious if there is any protection for heraldic items from other nations in the US.