It may surprise you to hear this, but according to federal law most men either are, or were a member of a militia. According to Federal law as enacted in the Dick Act of 1903:

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TITLE 10–ARMED FORCES

Subtitle A–General Military Law PART I–ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS CHAPTER 13–THE MILITIA Sec. 311. Militia: composition and classes (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female

citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are– (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

…every man aged 17-44 is automatically a member of the unorganized militia unless they do something to either make themselves formally organized or exclude themselves. Considering anti-discrimination laws women and or those older than 44 should nominally have the right to participate in an unorganized militia by choice.

Arming oneself with a suitable militarily functional firearm to be ready for call-up as needed as a member of a militia was considered an explicit requirement until 19036. Considering the need for a militia may transcend the ability of Federal or State authorities to arm militias it is darn near a patriotic duty to be ready to defend ones homes and neighbors if the need should arise.

While most think of militias in either the traditional sense of minute-men, or the modern media sense of “evil” para-militaries, there is a much more common sense ideal. Theoretically any group who bands together to defend themselves against outside agression or common threat is part of a militia. Among other possibilities this can mean organizing into a neighborhood watch to defend against crime, acting as an armed guard in your neighborhood after a natural disaster1, or defending ones home or business from a riot2.

While a firearm is the de-facto most efficient way for an individual to excercise their natural right to defend themself or others, firearms are not 100% necessary to perform that right of self defense. On September 11th 2001 many of the passengers of Flight 93 banded together to fight a common enemy which threatened not only their own lives, but their nation. This was essentially the creation of an impromptu militia3. Imagine what might have happened if Federal Law had not unconstitutionally prohibited citizens from carrying firearms on airplanes.

Another example of an impromptu militia was the 2002 confrontation and capture of an armed killer at the Appalachian School of Law4. After hearing gunfire students reacted to the situation and individually and spontaneously acted to stop the threat. Allowing students and or faculty who are otherwise legally allowed to carry concealed weapons to do so on campuses would act as an unorganized militia deterent and instantaneous response force in the event of a mass shooting. To minimalize authoritarian inadequacy authorities frequently attempt to invoke more control by hiring additional (though inevitably inadequate) security forces, purchasing equipment, or curtailing natural rights to control peoples' ability to fight back. Realistically those forces cannot prevent danger, but can only respond to it. When dealing with an infrequently occuring decentralized threat, only a decentralized defense like that of a militia can effectively and efficiently prevent or mitigate that threat.

Another historic use of the militia in America was to act as a counter balance to tyrannical governmental control. Many of the founding fathers argued against maintaining a large Federal Military as it could be used by to impose authoritariansim upon the citizenry. In many aspects those views about maintaining a small military were respected until the 1930s buildup prior to WWII. A secondary aspect of that view was that a large professional military could be used for un-constitutional adventurism for the benefit of those in power; this effect has become more and more recognizable in the U.S. government since 1950, and due to lack of respect for our constitution we can now essentially go to war on the command of one man (the President). We also have thousands of armed individuals that take orders directly from the executive branch that are also armed; i.e. the ATF, IRS, DEA, and the whole alphabet soup of government agencies. Today many of the natural rights we have which were enumerated in the Bill of Rights are threatened by un-constitutional laws that threaten our civil liberties8.

While the ideal of using the powers of the militia (a body of citizenry) to counter balance run away government power is not pleasant, and not something that anyone should want, we should recognize our right and potential duty to do so. It has happened on a local level before, as recently at 1946 in Athens Tennessee5. While it is not a happy idea, recent history has shown that our government is more and more treading upon the civil rights of Americans. At some point it is possible that our form of government will essentially become an undeniably fascist organization which fundamentally destroys the rights of its citizens rather than protecting them. If we reach the point where we recognize this to be true, forming into groups to fight tyranny is not only permissable, but should be a recognized duty of all Americans7.

1 After the Storm–Reason Magazine [link edited for length]

2 L.A. Riots of 1992(Second Day)–Wikipedia [link edited for length]

3 United Airlines Flight 93–Wikipedia [link edited for length]

4 Appalachain School of Law Shooting–Wikipedia [link edited for length]

5 The Battle of Athens [link edited for length]

6 Critique of “Join a Militia–Break the Law”–Jon Roland [link edited for length]

7 Liberty–Peter J. Mancus [link edited for length]

8 Here's What's Wrong With the Patriot Act–Chad Underdonk[link edited for length]