Thoughts on the American Militia Movement

Alaska Citizens Militia founders Ray Southwell and Norm Olson

Why I disagree with the movement

I believe in the 2nd Amendment and I'm against gun control. I also don't believe in people forming their own armies BEFORE actual hostilities ensue. I love my libertarian and conservative brothers and sisters but we have a few too many loose cannons. We NEED to keep the struggle at the ballot box. Should we own firearms? Yes. Should we join gun clubs and network with other liberty folks who own firearms? Yes

Should we assemble our own armies and give the Feds an extra excuse to steal liberty? NO. We need to hold the absolute moral high ground. Remember, it was an enrolled (local government) militia at Lexington that the British fired on. AFTER that volley, THEN the unorganized militia rose up in Concord and they had the moral high ground to do so.

The Second Amendment’s militia clause

The founders wrote that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed, and that a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a Free State. There are many ways to interpret that.  “Well-regulated” means orderly, high functioning, etc.  The way the militia clause makes most sense to me is sticking with the current distinction between the organized and unorganized militia, as neither category contradicts the militia clause.

Militia law in the Revolutionary War era

American militia, Battle of Guilford Courthouse by Don Troiani

We also have the militia law of the Revolutionary War era and preceding years. The militia system in colonial America was based on the English system which dates back to the English Muster Law of 1572. The militia at Lexington was a legally mustered local militia, not a spontaneous uprising. There were also mustered militias at Concord. Many of the 3,000+ irregulars that fought at Concord were un-mustered, unorganized "militia" but at that point they had the legal and moral standing to do what they did because their government (the Crown) broke the social contract by shooting on its citizens without it being necessary.

How realistic would the militia revolution be?

It's a little hard for me to take the militia movement seriously sometimes. For starters, most militia members I’ve encountered are all rhetoric; as far as those who vigorously drill for combat in the “next revolutionary war,” they overestimate their abilities.  Sure, they're great patriots who know their Constitution and own an AR-15. Muster one of these private militias versus one volley of hellfire missiles fired from a federal drone and their private militia is vaporized. They died for nothing.  

Alternatives for the present

WHAT WOULD RON PAUL DO?  Would he join a militia or organize political campaigns to peacefully change government? If these militia members spent half the time they spent on their private armies on activism instead, we'd have way more liberty devotees elected to public office.  It's best to own firearms in case the shit really does go down, but in the meantime WE MUST DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO KEEP POLITICS AT THE BALLOT BOX, NOT THE BATTLEFIELD.

Media coverage of militia groups

I disagree with the militia movement but I have to say the leftist media outlets cause unbalanced distractions. In the last decade there have been a handful of militia-related murders (mostly white supremacists) whereas gun-control Chicago alone has had 50+ murders in the first quarter of this year. Can we prioritize puh-leez???

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Southwell and Olson photo by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter; image courtesy of Democratic Underground discussion boards; no copyrights given or implied. Don Troiani artwork is in the public domain (as it was published by the U.S. National Park Service) and was obtained from Wikimedia Commons.