Governor Ron DeSantis Unveils the Florida State Guard [More]
You know, what effete (and secretly jealous) anti-gun males armed only with Alinsky Rule 5 snark think they’re being clever ridiculing as “the vigilante militia“…
I’ll need to see the plan though, because as regular readers of my Firearms News columns know:
Speaking of free states, while the power to raise armies is the purview of the Congress, state defense forces were established by some (17 plus Puerto Rico), but not all states, to be deployed within a state. The State Guard Association of the United States exists “to advocate for the advancement and support of regulated state military forces established by state governments,” [but] don’t look for teeth to match the mission statement. The last two defense force units, the Ohio Military Reserve and the Tennessee State Guard, were the last units trained for deployment with issued weapons, but no more. The Tennessee Guard’s role is now to provide unarmed support to the National Guard during deployment, with organized firearms-related activities are limited to marksmanship competitions. What was once the Ohio Military Reserve, formally a military police unit, was reorganized to provide emergency management support and of late has been assisting food banks during the COVID-19 scare by packing, transporting and distributing food and serving meals. State guard units are examples of the organized militia.
I’d like to see the Florida plan fleshed out. Who will be armed and when, and what will the rules be?
[Via Jim S]
Quoting from Article I 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; …”
Which sort of implies that there will be something called a militia ready willing and able for congress to call out if need arises.
The fact of the matter is that no sooner was the ink put on parchment than congress began ignoring parts of “The Constitution” that they found to be too hard, too expensive, or too disagreeable.
But the fact that Congress dropped the ball on their duties under Article 1 Section 8 did not make the “militia” we inherited from English common law go away. In fact, it still lurks in United States Code (USC)
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/246
Just as the Governors of the south west border states are having to pick up on enforcing Federal immigration law, some of the other Governors are starting to pick up on some of the other things that Congress is supposed to be doing. Providing for a properly trained and equipped militia is now on the list in Florida.