What follows is looong, so I apologize in advance to the moderators.
Interesting thread. I haven't found anything like that on my 1998 version. I did a search for "2nd Amendment" and got a straight copy of what it says, and then a sub-link to "Militia".
Militia Movement, political and paramilitary movement in the United States that developed during the 1980s and 1990s. The movement consisted of small, separate groups united by the belief that the federal government exercised too much control over individual citizens.
The current movement is based on a militia tradition of local and civil control and suspicion of centralized federal power. This tradition has encouraged the illegal foundations of right wing paramilitary groups since the Civil War ended in 1865. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), founded during the winter of 1865-1866, legitimated its violence against blacks by claiming that federal and state troops then policing the South were a threat to white Southerners’ legal and constitutional rights. When federal troops withdrew from the South in 1877, the KKK grew as a local armed force that threatened or killed blacks attempting to exercise their civil rights as guaranteed by federal law. In the 1930s this tradition continued with extremist organizations like the Christian Front and the Silver Shirts, which protested the expanding role of the federal government during the Great Depression.
In the 1980s militia groups were organized in a number of states and included such organizations as the Michigan Militia Corps, Militia of Montana, and Texas Constitutional Militia. These groups were diverse: Some were religious, others were not; some held military maneuvers, others did not. All, however, viewed the federal government—including all levels of the armed forces—as the primary threat to the well-being of U.S. citizens.
As evidence of this threat, they pointed to highly publicized incidents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992 and Waco, Texas in 1993. In the Ruby Ridge incident, the U.S. Marshals staked out the home of Randall Weaver, a man wanted for failing to appear in court on a charge of weapons violation. When the U.S. Marshals arrived at his home on Ruby Ridge, shots were fired, and a marshal and Weaver’s son were killed. Then the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) came to Ruby Ridge to try to seize Weaver and shot and killed his wife. In the Waco incident, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) planned a raid on the compound of a religious group, the Branch Davidians, which was supposedly harboring weapons. The raid failed and resulted in the deaths of four federal agents. A 51-day standoff ended when federal agents attempted to take the compound. A fire broke out—apparently set by the Branch Davidians—killing about 80 members of the sect. Members of the militia movement believed that in these two incidents, the federal government had overstepped its boundaries.
Militia members also believed that the threat from the federal government had been magnified by its attempts to regulate the purchase of guns. They did not accept the legitimacy of federal gun-control legislation believing that it disarmed citizens, further limiting their power and ability to protect themselves against the government. They cited the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States as guaranteeing the unrestricted right to bear arms.
The militias also opposed other federal government activities—such as taxes, government regulations, and federal police power—claiming that such activities intruded into the domain of state and local government or individual family life. Some groups believed that federal law enforcement officials should be replaced by citizens groups that would enforce local laws.
These militia groups claimed that their traditions were linked to American democracy, but some militias supported only a limited democracy. They saw the increased power and expanded civil rights of what they considered to be subordinate groups—including women, black people, and immigrants—as direct threats to their own independence and liberty. Militia members characterized their activities as critical to defending what they called American identity. They were especially concerned about the loss of national sovereignty, which they believed to be threatened by international institutions like the United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Contributed By:
Leisa Meyer
I was a little hot at this point as I thought they completely by-passed the militia concept. Also, I suspected Leisa Meyer was either an NPR reporter or a foxy government mouthpiece (no pun intended). Maybe it's just a sound-alike.
Then I searched on "militia" and got this, and calmed down.
A surprise to me was that the govt. took control of the NG way back in 1933, I thought it was in the 50s. Great fodder for the "militia = National Guard" arguments.
Militia, in the United States, military forces made up of part-time citizen-soldiers who were trained to serve in times of emergency. Initially militias were a means of universal military training for men and were intended for defensive purposes. They were organized first by the British colonies and later by the states. By the 20th century, the services performed by these militias had come under the control of the National Guard of the United States. During the 1980s and 1990s, a militia movement grew which claimed its origins in the colonial militias.
Colonial America
The American colonists had neither the manpower nor the resources to maintain permanent forces and adopted the English militia system which used citizens to help defend the country. The colonial militias defended the settlers against Native American attacks. In addition, Great Britain used the colonial militias to augment their armies during North American wars, such as the French and Indian War (1754-1763). During the American Revolution (1775-1783), the colonial militias made up a large part of the Continental Army fighting the British. Moreover, when white men were away from home fighting, white women, often wives of militia members, filled in and served as the armed forces defending their homes.
State Militias
After the revolution ended, the United States still faced threats from the British, who would not abandon some posts in the northwest, and from the French and Spanish. However, the new American leaders considered that maintaining a large professional army in peacetime could threaten the new government with overthrow by force. Thus the federal government decided to maintain only a small standing national army after the revolution. This standing army was supplemented by state militias, which responded to both national and international emergencies, although they were primarily a defensive force. The states were responsible for the maintenance of the militias and had the power to appoint militia officers. In addition, they also trained the citizen-soldiers, requiring them to drill at specific times throughout the year. Attendance at these drills, or muster days, was compulsory and enforced by assessing fines to those who were absent. These muster days varied from state to state and decreased during times of peace. On average, they varied from four times a year to once a week, depending on the perceived threat. The Congress of the United States had some authority over the state militias and could call them to federal service for these reasons: to defend the country against invasions, to quell insurrections, and to execute the laws of the land.
In 1792 the federal Uniform Militia Law was created and required all able-bodied free white men ages 16 to 45 to arm themselves to defend their communities. The act exempted a number of occupations from militia service, including doctors, teachers, preachers, and public officials. All 15 states enforced the 1792 law, although there were some differences in how often the militia trained, how its leaders were chosen, and who could serve in it. For example, free blacks in North Carolina during the 18th and 19th centuries were generally excluded from militias but were liable for service as laborers. In South Carolina, enslaved black men could be called to help the militias, although white militia men guarded against possible insurrection.
The militias operated in their own communities and in some national incidents. In 1786 and 1787, a militia helped to quell Shays' Rebellion, an uprising in Massachusetts. In 1794, in the first use of such power by a president, George Washington asked the governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia to mobilize their militias to put down the Whiskey Rebellion, a tax protest by distillers in western Pennsylvania. During the War of 1812 (1812-1815) the number of militia members that participated has been estimated at 100,000 people. These people usually served for short periods of time, unlike the soldiers in the regular army. In addition, the states maintained considerable control over the militias. Some states, such as Connecticut and Massachusetts, refused to allow their militias to participate in the War of 1812 except to defend their own states. Militias also fought in the American Civil War (1861-1865), supporting their states in the conflict.
By the late 1800s, the absence of any pressing external threat diminished the urgency once attached to a well-trained militia. The U.S. Congress reviewed several proposals to revitalize the militias but did not pass any of them. The militias began to fall into disuse. Muster days dropped to once a year at most, and the list of exempt occupations increased. In many areas, the militia became a force on paper only. As the militias declined, men were no longer required to join. Instead elite volunteer militias with more ceremonial functions developed. Although these organizations were concerned with their distinctive uniforms and military parades, they also helped states maintain law and order. Muster days, however, became largely social affairs composed of riding, shooting, picnics, and dinners.
The National Guard
By the late 19th century, the volunteer militias in many states were known as the National Guard. The guards were state institutions that were usually called on when local police forces could not control a situation. In the 20th century, the National Guard, although controlled primarily by the states, became increasingly federalized. The passage of the 1903 federal Dick Act officially established the National Guard as the “organized militia,” separating the National Guard from the state's reserves forces, which included all citizens between 18 and 45 who could be called to serve during a war. The guard was still a state institution, but if the states accepted federal aid for the militias, they had to comply with certain regulations such as how many times the militias would drill during the year.
In 1908 supplementary federal legislation was passed, requiring conformity between the guard and the regular army in matters of organization, armament, and discipline. The National Defense Act of 1916 greatly increased federal power over the guard by making it part of the regular army when it was called to federal service. However, when a National Guard unit was called into federal service, the unit was dissolved and its members were dispersed throughout the regular army. In 1933 an amendment to the National Defense Act changed this by allowing the president to order whole units into service when a national emergency was declared. The National Guard became a reserve segment of the regular army.
The 1933 amendment made the guard subject to the authority of the federal government as well as the states. The problems inherent in this dual chain of command, with the guard under the control of both the state and the federal government, became clear during the 1960s. Several times in the 1960s, the president federalized guard units that had already been called up by state governors, in effect taking over control of guard units from the states when national and state interests conflicted. One such conflict occurred in 1963 when Governor George Wallace activated the Alabama National Guard to prevent black people from enrolling in the University of Alabama. President John F. Kennedy responded by federalizing the Alabama Guard and ordering them to protect black students enrolling at the university, not to defend the university from these students.
Contributed By:
Leisa Meyer
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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
