maestro pistolero said:
I can't understand TG's narrow view on this subject. He has contributed so much good stuff here. I still regard his viewpoint highly.
First of all thanks for your kind words and I am thnakful to you and mods like Al Norris that we can have a reasoned discussion on these issues. One note about the "narrowness" of my views. Keep in mind that most who post on here belong to the gun culture. I have no problem with that but many of the views here about the insurrection theory, militias and armed citizenry are really minority views when taken as a whole by our current US society. Talk to Joe on the street and mention militias and insurrection against the government and you are likely to get some strange looks. My point is that even though I
might be in the minority on this forum, I may not be elsewhere. Not that your opinion doesn't count it does, just try to avoid the smugness that some on here project.
gc70 said:
TG declares the demise of the militia because its current form does not fit his expectations.
I declare it dead because it is dead and has no form to fit the expectations or requirements the Founding Fathers put on it then or that our society has today. It doesn't exist.
gc70 said:
The post-Katrina picture that TG derisively posted proves the existence of the militia. There were numerous news reports after Katrina about neighbors who banded together and defended their neighborhoods against the predations of looters. Although they lacked a pre-defined chain of command and the formalizations of which military organizations are so fond, those citizens organized themselves and protected their communities.
That example by your own description is not a militia. Unless you subscribe to the theory folks like Jon Roland put forth that civic duty or self defense is the militia. I think that theory is wrong IMO.
If you and I resist with firearms a robbery are we in the militia?
The idea that where two or more are gathered togther with guns constitutes a militia shows a complete historical misunderstanding of what the militia of the 2A was and seems more like a romantic notion than reality.
Finally, since everyone here likes to quote old dead folks here is one from George Washington's first State of the Union address:
A free people ought not to be armed but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well digested plan requisite
You see 'ole George knew that a mob with guns was not only ineffective militarily but dangerous. As I stated before We the American People killed the militia, may it rest in peace.