New York City’s News 4 took a trip down to the wild’s of Pennsylvania to meet themselves from genuine militia members (autoplay warning). The militia scene is not my scene, but if a bunch of people want to go out into the woods on the weekends and practice room clearing, it’s no skin off my back. I actually think News 4 manage to do a pretty fair job of covering the issue. There’s not much whipping up hysteria, and they seem genuinely interested in letting them tell their story. They don’t even sensationalize the fact that a lot of them don’t want to be identified. Minds can imagine that would be for some nefarious purpose, when the real issue is probably they don’t want their employers and co-workers to know they get together with their shooting buddies and play army on the weekends.
Those interested in learning more about the militia movement should start with Prof. Robert’s Churchill’s “The Origins of the Militia Movement.“
I have not yet had a chance to read Prof. Robert Churchill’s paper, but in checking his background I found some very intelligent and favorable discussions of his work here, here, and here in “Talk” sections of Wikipedia articles.
He appears to be regarded as the only reliable authority for assessing the modern militia movement.
They’re shocked that ordinary citizens are allowed to do things like this. Then again, they’re shocked because ordinary citizens are allowed to own guns of all shapes and sizes. They’re shocked because we have more freedom than they do.
I played Army for 21 years, last thing I want personally is a do over, but I can see where it is a good thing for those that have never had the experiences.
“I can see where it is a good thing for those that have never had the experiences.”
I have some reservations about that.
When “citizen militias” were a new fad in the 1990s, I was a big fan of the concept. But I chose not to get involved because I found most of them (all, actually) tactically insane in terms of what they were preparing for. It was more like they were being prepped to be someone’s Sturmabteilung than to resist an actual military force.
If it’s only a question of learning the fun of running around in the woods with guns while getting fresh air and sunshine, fine. But one of my additional fears is what I call the “all dressed up with no place to go” syndrome, i.e., that some small percentage of people will seek a fight once they’ve spent months or years preparing for one. I think there is empirical evidence that that has happened with some people in some cases. For that matter, I think it can be a problem with our paramilitary police units.
I’m not suggesting for an instant that it should not be “allowed,” but I am stating my own personal reservations that caused me to keep my distance from such things for more than two decades.