Times-Dispatch Writer Gets It Exactly Backwards in Militia Article

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)-“In these incendiary times, formally blessing an armed militia to assist law enforcement is akin to tossing a Molotov cocktail into a fireworks factory,” a Tuesday Richmond Times-Dispatch offering by columnist Michael Paul Williams asserts. “But that’s what’s up in Halifax County, whose Board of Supervisors is considering the idea of the Halifax County Militia serving as an auxiliary to local authorities when called.

Volunteers from the Halifax County Militia have reached out to local authorities asking to work with them. As much as Williams tries to portray the idea as one that will set a bunch of armed yahoos loose to wreak havoc on the streets, the goals if one chooses to consult a less ignorantly biased report, make lots of sense.

“We’re not trying to be law enforcement officers. What we’re trying to do is create that supplement. We’re an extra pair of eyes. We’re extra bodies, Halifax Commander Mitzi Thompson explained. “If something in the future did happen and the law enforcement were overwhelmed in some kind of way, we do have the training to come out and assist them.”

“All the members of the militia undergo ‘basic’ training in skills such as firearms safety, weapon proficiency, riot control, military tactics, unarmed self-defense, first aid, and search and rescue,” the report elaborated. “[M]ilitia members also will take FEMA courses so they will be ‘call-out qualified’ to respond to natural disasters.”.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we get violence happening in the next 10 minutes to have a local militia to call up while we wait on the national government to get the National Guard in there?” Supervisor Ricky Short, who presented the proposal as a board resolution, asked.

He’s right.  Now think bigger. Imagine a more destructive and longer-lasting disruption of society – go ahead and pick whatever cause comes to mind, from a protracted power outage, to a catastrophic natural disaster, to invasion, to whatever. Look at how this country went nuts when people couldn’t buy toilet paper. What do we think is going to happen when the utilities and supply/distribution systems break down for days, then longer?

It’s not hard to imagine authorities triaged to those areas and efforts of greatest need. That means there will be no one to provide essential services, including policing, outside of those areas. How does it not make sense to have the good citizens of this country prepared and organized so that if and when the need arises, they have a structure and a chain of command they can coordinate with and receive direction from? How else would we maintain order in otherwise unserviced areas?

Naturally, the statists on the board who have let their prejudices rule their decisions were quick to reject the idea with kneejerk stereotypes.

“We just don’t need people that are not recognized as police and military out here with guns running around, Supervisor Stanley Brandon, identified by Williams as “one of three Black supervisors” declared. “America already has enough problems with policing and racism, even from officers actually trained to do the job. Law enforcement is no place for private militias.”

First off, that’s not what they would be doing, and the extent of their activities would be directed by the authorities. And how many times have we seen the ridiculous fallacy of claims that police are the “only ones” qualified to be armed?

“Who is going to govern them?” Williams quotes a resident asking. “Are you going to be responsible for them? Are you going to pay them when you call them to duty? Who is eligible to join? If they kill somebody, who is going to be liable?”

“All excellent questions, yet to be answered,” Williams proclaims.

But they have been answered, in the Constitution, Article.1. Section.8:

“The Congress shall have Power … To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.”

It’s the government’s job to figure such details out and impart the rules to the Militia members. That’s where the “well regulated” part of the Second Amendment comes in. It’s not the fault of citizens who believe in the wisdom of the Founders that corrupt government has shirked its duties regarding “the security of a free State,” forcing them to form free associations with those of like mind. After all, we’ve seen that not only can the government not protect them, it cannot even protect itself.

And nothing says you’re on your own like the sight of police officers, like some in Richmond, taking a knee and raising their fists in solidarity with those threatening “No justice, no peace” (that is, to wreak violence and destruction unless they get their way).

Instead, Williams points to Kenosha as an example of how things “could go wrong,” claiming Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense is that “he could have been part of a ‘well regulated militia.’”

He could have been “well regulated” if the government would do its damned job. And Rittenhouse’s defense, simply put, is that he was defending himself. See for yourself how he is being railroaded by politically-motivated prosecutors being pressured to deliver the young man’s head to the mob:

Williams has no incentive to acknowledge this stuff. Besides, the easiest course is to play the race card, tell readers how the NAACP opposes the idea and how a “progressive” academic points out “militias are overwhelmingly white and male [raising] concerns about how they would be perceived in many communities, especially given our current divisive political climate, including events where self-identified militia members have opposed protesters fighting for racial justice, and in the context of a national history of some jurisdictions using armed white folks to enforce white supremacy.”

“In this context, the board is kicking a grenade, not a can, down the road,” Williams concludes. “This colossally bad idea is beyond divisive; it’s a provocation. It needs to go away.”

Either that or the core purpose of the Second Amendment needs to be implemented in the way the Founders intended. With the Militia of the several States being comprised of “the whole people,” the members would come from all demographics, would train and serve together, and would be subject to all the disciplines and laws detractors cite as reasons to disallow them.

The Militia hasn’t been “replaced by the National Guard” as latter-day gun-grabbers would have us believe. The Militia Act of 1903 (the Dick Act), which replaced the 1792 Militia Acts, clarified that the Militia is not the National Guard through recognition of the unorganized Militia.

And that presents a problem of its own, as Constitutional scholar, author, and attorney, Dr. Edwin Vieira, warns, calling that an example of Congressional “malfeasance… beyond the pale.”

“Under no circumstances may Congress leave the Militia unorganized, unarmed, or undisciplined–let alone knowingly and intentionally impose such conditions,” Vieira instructs. The very term is “an oxymoron.”

That’s deliberate, because those who would rule in a monopoly of violence know there is no more egalitarian power-sharing arrangement than the right of the people to keep and bear arms, and there is no more unifying force than the people working together to secure “the Blessings of Liberty.”  That is the best and most equitable way to achieve justice and peace, with the people themselves assuming much of the responsibility for ensuring it.

Maybe the real question here is, who benefits from a disarmed, dependent, and divided populace? Maybe instead of “Defund the Police,” the demand ought to be “Fund the Militia.”

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About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.