The Heritage of American Militias

Opinion
Letter to the AmmoLand Editor

American Militias are as crucial to our Republic as is freedom of speech.

The Second Amendment has two very distinct parts. The first portion states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,” refers to Militias, not weapons. In fact, its preposition infers that the second portion of the amendment: “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,” deals with weapons of war.

In fact, the Supreme Court ruled as much in its 1939 ruling in United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939). That case involved a man who transported a shotgun across state lines with a barrel less than 18″ long in violation of the 1934 National Firearms Act.

SCOTUS found: “The Court cannot take judicial notice that a shotgun having a barrel less than 18 inches long has today any reasonable relation to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia, and therefore cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees to the citizen the right to keep and bear such a weapon.”

In other words, the court found that only weapons that have a reasonable relationship to the effectiveness of a well-regulated militia are free from government regulation under the Second Amendment.

Therefore, weapons of war are covered under the Second Amendment.

This writer is not an attorney or a constitutional scholar but rather a journalist who gathers facts and presents them to readers. You can interpret these facts in any way you wish; however, they appear to obviously indicate the importance of a militia in the United States from our founding documents up to 1939.

In 1791, when the Bill of Rights was ratified, the militia was established to mutually defend against marauding bands of hostile Indians and gangs of thieves, to ensure that politicians upheld the Constitution, and to form an army to fight invading forces.

In 1939, when the short-barreled shotgun was determined not suitable for militia usage, the same logic for a need for militias was seen by SCOTUS as necessary in each state. Not state guard units, but rather militias consisting of community residents to safeguard their own defense.

In fact, militias were used as late as the War with Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. Roosevelt’s Rough Riders were a volunteer militia that was formed in part by Theodore Roosevelt. A standing army had been around for many years; however, militias were still very important to the security of the United States.

By the way, they still are. Maybe even more so today than at any time in the past since the 20th Century.

The thing is, laws have been passed in many states that outlaw any and all militias. In fact, there is a concentrated effort to make militia membership akin to being a terrorist. The mass media trashes the thought of militias daily, and the Biden/ Harris administration has actively worked to destroy any organization that could turn into a militia.

In order for a militia to be of any value, it needs two things: access to military weapons and, most importantly, training to work together as a unit. Without both, a militia is nothing more than a fraternal organization.

Yet, the Biden administration is so fearful of an organized militia in the United States that it has done everything in its vast power to stop even those fraternal groups that believe in the preservation of the Constitution. Under the guise of the January 6th protests, which they insist was an insurrection, our Department of Justice (DOJ) has, and to this day, are arresting every person who attended the Capitol after President Trump spoke. Some of whom never entered the Capitol building.

During this unprecedented lawfare against mostly peaceful protesters, they paid special attention to members of fraternal organizations that advocated for the preservation of the Constitution.

Groups like the 3 Percenters, who recognize that only 3% of the population of America took up arms against Great Britain. There were the Proud Boys, a group that stressed the importance of the man within the family, the Patriot Prayer group who were Christians, the Veterans for Trump whose only crime seems to being veterans who support Making America First Again, and others that are conservative in nature and don’t vote Democrat. All of these groups were harassed into near nonexistence by the lawfare of the Biden /Harris DOJ.

And then there was the Oath Keepers. They were, they no longer exist, an organization that consisted of veterans, many combat veterans, police officers, and firefighters. What made them special was the fact that all were already trained in combat arms and needed very little training to become a viable active militia. While the left-wing mainstream media already call them, as well as all the other groups militias, only the Oath Keepers were truly almost a militia.

They didn’t train in martial arts, but had already been trained and could easily revert to that training. So the DOJ under Biden were extremely frightened of them. It is why the corrupted FBI went to extremes to destroy them. It is why their leaders received decades long sentences in prison, even when some, like their leader, Stewart Rhodes, wasn’t at the Capitol on January 6th.

The Oath Keepers were a clear and present danger to the Democrat Party in their attempts to transform America from a republic into a one-party-ruled tyranny. Think about it: how many times Biden remarked that those armed MAGA types better have F-15s or nuclear bombs if they think they can stop that would-be dictator from doing what he wanted? He understood that armed Americans were a threat and he was scared.

Along the way the corrupt FBI investigated and intimidated every group that didn’t follow the Democrat radical leftist philosophy to the tee. Catholics, all of them were suspects because they dared to advocate for the life of children. PTA moms and dads were investigated and harassed, and some were even arrested because they stood up for boys and girls being male and female.

The scope of the lawfare against those Americans who didn’t follow the Democrat radical line is unimaginable to most of us. And yet it is still occurring today. So the need for the militia has not deminished since 1775 when used against the British who went to Concord, Massachusetts to confiscate those military arms from a local militia that trained to defeat marauding bands of hostile Indians, and gangs of thieves.

Those trained militias were used against a political force that wanted total dominance over Americans. And Democrats learned the lessons from 1775, they have shut down all militias in America today. And we are more at risk as a nation for it.

No one or no group has stood up against local or federal laws outlawing militias in America, yet they are as important as the right to keep and bear arms. Those Second Amendment groups like the National Rifle Association, Guns of America and others are going to court over gun bans and concealed carry limitations, yet ignore laws enacted outlawing militias. Wake up…they are every bit as important as protecting gun ownership. People with guns aren’t militias and provide very little threat to a military or police organization.

Having weapons doesn’t mean one knows what to do with them. The Second Amendment covered what is necessary to protect America. It included viable militias for the protection of our communities as well as our nation. That is what a well-regulated militia means within the Second Amendment.

One also needs the weapons to carry out that mission. The militiamen were required to bring their own weapon and at least 60 rounds of ammunition with them when called out to repel outlaws or Indians, even when called out to stop an invading army trying to confiscate that militias’ stock of arms, powder and balls. As happened at Concord, Massachusetts in April, 1775.

Minutemen met and challenged British troops on the greens of Lexington, a town standing in the road to Concord, where those militia supplies were stored. A company of Minutemen stood in the way to slow the British advance. Captain John Parker was commander of the 77-member militia that stood in the path of 700 British troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith.

A frightened British solider fired a round striking Ensign Robert Munroe. Both sides opened fire, and eight Minutemen fell dead, including Munroe, while only one Brit fell in the confrontation. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, after a brief but intense battle, those militiamen stood their ground until the British invaders moved forward, forcing their retreat.

Although defeated at Lexington, their task was accomplished. They slowed the British advance enough that a larger force of Minutemen took the high ground around the bridge at Concord that must be traversed to get to the stores of militia equipment. Most of which was removed before the British arrival, in part because of the delaying action of Captain Parker, Ensign Munroe and the rest of those Minutemen on the greens of Lexington.

Notice, while maybe not the greatest soldiers on the planet, they were trained and disciplined enough to stand their ground in the face of overwhelming odds. And the entire battle, from Lexington, to Concord, to the British retreat back to Boston, was coordinated, only because these militias trained and drilled together before the battle.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have put a complete stop to the real need for a well-disciplined militia in America. We need to take back our Constitutional rights. After all, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

If we ever want to regain our rights, vote Republican on November 5. We need a President and Congress that vote for America First.

Joe Ragonese

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