It is manifestly true that there weren’t enough sheepdogs in the vicinity of the VaTech campus on the morning 16 April, 2007. But I am increasingly persuaded that this doesn’t mean that there were too many sheep – indeed, that there were any sheep there at all. Given time to internalize the unthinkable, brave professors and students alike rallied to the barricades as best they could, even to the extent of interposing their vulnerable selves between danger and their colleagues. It is no disgrace that reactions take time to formulate – even trained warriors have at times been shocked into immobility when faced with the unthinkable. How much easier would it be for a paranoid psychotic murderer to freeze people with virtually no defensive training whatsoever? Especially in an environment that is supposed to be a sanctuary.
Lacking sufficient and instant protection from the state – for whatever reason – it would have been good to be able to call upon someone else. Like the militia.
After all, it was the militia that diverted Flight 93 from its intended target on September 11th, 2001 according to Volokh contributor Randy Barrnett, who goes on to enunciate just who these militiamen were, at least according to federal law:
Section 311 of US Code Title 10, entitled, “Militia: composition and classes” in its entirety (with emphases added) defines the militia as follows:
(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.
So, pretty much all youse guys. In fact, just under half of all of us. (Needs updating I should think, for the gender sensitivities – not to mention gender realities - of the 21st Century, but never mind.)
So given the fact that the state cannot protect you from madmen, how are we to tap into this enormous reservoir of defensive capacity, unorganized, untrained and lying idle? Barnett has an answer for that too:
A well-regulated militia does not require a draft or any compulsory training. Nor, as Alexander Hamilton recognized, need training be universal. “To attempt such a thing which would abridge the mass of labor and industry to so considerable extent, would be unwise,” he wrote in Federalist 29, “and the experiment, if made, could not succeed, because it would not long be endured.” But Congress has the constitutional power to create training programs in effective self-defense including training in small arms ‚Äî marksmanship, tactics, and gun safety ‚Äî for any American citizen who volunteers. Any guess how many millions would take weapons training at government expense or even for a modest fee if generally offered?
I can think of quite a few.
Or else we could go the other way of course. Expand the circle of gun-free zones until they overlap. Depend upon the resources of the state to protect us. Or – failing that – track down our killers.
Whichever.
Though not part of the National Guard or Naval Militia, the Civil Air Patrol probably qualifies in the spirit if not the letter of the law as part of the ‘organized militia’.
MAJ Campbell began her aviation career as a teenager in Civil Air Patrol. Firearms training for CAP cadets must be sponsored and supervised by one of the following:
(a) Qualified military small arms range personnel.
(b) Local law enforcement officers qualified as firearms instructors.
(c) Personnel of the National Rifle Association, National Skeet Shooting Association or Amateur Trap Shooting Association qualified as firearms instructors.
Of greater value than marksmanship skills alone, are the learned values of teamwork, accountability and situational awareness–the exact opposite of the “culture of passivity” that keeps isolated individuals ignorant of the dangers around them and their inherent right, power, and duty to protect both themselves and their neighbors. CAP is only one such program –Scouting is another.
In one word — citizenship
We will prevail when enough people stop living like “timeshare Americans” and reclaim the rights and burdens of citizenship
The Army already runs such a thing, and it’s called the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Now, it’s not free, but not only can you get training, you can get surplus government weapons and ammunition at pretty good prices.
Hi Lex,
Start in elementary school with remedial classes
available for current students NOT in elementary
school. Use nerf(TM) or stuffed animals, the
drill is: Bad Intruder visible. 123 CHARGE!!
On the count of three throw the (soft) things at
the Intruder, THEN ALL CHARGE THE INTRUDER.
1,2,3 THROW, CHARGE!!!
If taught from the youngest ages many less will
die via handgun attacks.
Thanks
Sine Nomine
Try as I might, I just can’t make the association of a militia from a time 200 years ago when the realities of daily life where different than now, and saying it has relevance to today.
It may be true that had someone had a gun for self defense, the carnage could have been shortened, then again it might have added 2 fields of fire. And gotten even more people hurt or killed.
What seems apparent to me is the “overhead”-accidental shootings, gun related crime going up” is going to be increased in a society where all the citizens have weapons. Especially one with as little respect for one another as the one that exists now.
Japan has it right in my humble opinion and handgun laws do need to be strict, not looser. Does Japan have gun crime? Yes, but not at the rate the US does..
Think of the Swiss Model of Militia. Everyhome has darling Hummel and Lladro figurines, on display in the living room. Warm hospitality is standard.
But in the closet…. at least one HK-91 with a number of “Hi-Capacity” magazines.
The Civilian Marksmanship program is cheap enough to be nearly free. And the Civil Air Patrol most definitely qualifies as the ‘militia’ in that it is an official auxiliary of the United States Air Force. In fact CAP aircraft patrolling the Pacific NW during WWII sunk a Japanese submarine with handheld munitions.
Check out your local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) for chances to become a non-shooting sheepdog- the 20 hour course is free except for the time it takes (a quick google search is al lit takes). There are free course materials and certification available from Training.FEMA.Gov on how to be a part of the local, state, and national response to emergencies.
The NRA offers classes that are very reasonably priced. Hunter safety courses cover more than just hunting. The opportunities are there, it’s merely a matter of prioritization, just as it is with saving vs relying on Social Security, with studying vs partying in college, just as it is with delayed gratification and cash purchases vs credit card debt and bankruptcy.
You can go to a place like Thunder Ranch instead of a vacation in Vegas- probably come out a LOT cheaper.
Japan does not have the levels of gun crime we do here because they are a racially and culturally homogenous society with nothing like the concept of liberty as practiced in the United States. Social mobility is limited. Economic opportunity is limited. Police routinely violate citizens rights, by our standards. You cannot compare us to them. And yet they still have occasional criminal shootings, and they have a rampant crime scene with organized mobsters still controlling things long after the Mafia was essentially crushed in our country.
We are going to have to make a choice. Over half of our country doesn’t believe that we should be fighting terrorism overseas, or doesn’t believe that we actually are. In either case, their alternative is to “treat terrorism as a law enforcement problem.”
Here’s where we need to make a decision. We are seeing today what it looks like for terrorism to be treated as a law enforcement problem: it was apparently well known that Cho, an Islamic convert, was deeply disturbed, but nothing could be done about it due to fears of litigation and cries of abuse from our sometimes friends at the ACLU. Absent the tools required to actually prevent acts of violence, we are faced with today’s situation of cleaning up the mess and pointing useless fingers of blame at the closest available scapegoats.
Law enforcement relies on the fear of incarceration or other penalties to work. In the case of a suicide bomber/shooter, those consequences clearly aren’t much of a deterrent. Unless and until we are willing to sacrifice the personal privacies and liberties that we rightly consider sacrosanct, there is no way that domestic terrorism can be considered a law enforcement problem, and we have no choice but to do whatever it takes to keep the fight contained overseas. But what we cannot and must not do is allow the demagogues and self-interested career politicians convince us that we can have it both ways. We can’t.
Bastich,
I suggest you revist Japan. Yes it is a homogeneous society but it is changing. In many ways their racism serves them well as far as identity and respect for other citizens. However they also have a growing problem with illegal immigration and yes they still have organized crime as does the US. The Mafia has been succeeded by other organized groups.
Social mobility is not so limited anymore because money buys you mobility.
Davreg,
How does fighting overseas keep a guy like Cho from going nuts with a gun? It’s apples and oranges as far as I can see. Gun control has nothing to do with the war on terrorism, but in keeping the weapons in the right hands and out of wrong ones.
Cho (aka Ismail Ax, his Islamic name) is merely one example of the violence that would follow us home should we chose ignominious retreat over the honourable path of standing up to our enemies and following though on our promises. In other words, the first shots have been fired in the Battle of America, and how we respond now will have severe repercussions. Allowing ourselves the luxury of pointless recriminations and yet more legislative masturbation are exactly the wrong things to do, but that is our normal response these days. Do you believe for one second that the success of this attack and our reactions to it will be ignored by Al Queda and others of that ilk, whether they were involved in it or not? I don’t.
Gun control has nothing to do with the war on terrorism, but in keeping the weapons in the right hands and out of wrong ones.
That is the exact opposite of what gun control in its current form does, a point that I think is self-evident, and I think it is very unlikely at this point that there is some type of effective gun control (i.e. something that disarms the criminal class rather than creating an easy victim class) that we’ve simply overlooked. I therefore advocate a different approach.
Militia?
Hank Williams, Jr. : ” A Country Boy Can Survive”…
All y’all folks gotta do is add that variable to the emergency kit for natural disasters is all. View it as self preservation or, if your the patriotic type, an obligation of citizenship- like voting or paying taxes (everybody did just pay their taxes, right?)
1st endorsement-Like CPTJ said above- I recommend B.S.A. for you Nanny Staters. CAP and NRA are dam fine organizations but you gotta start ‘em young.
Skippy – wrong again. this time- big time.
b2
Web Reconnaissance for 04/20/2007…
A short recon of what?ǂ
Web Reconnaissance for 04/20/2007…
A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention….
In my hometown, we already have a functioning training arm of the Militia… our Boy Scout Troop. We train on shooting with regularity, and have a high rate of Shooting and Shotgun Merit Badge accomplishment. My son can load clips, handle rifles, and shoot as well as any 11 year old on the block. That’s because all the other kids are also in his Troop.
editorial corrections needed to my post: Shotgun Shooting, and Rifle Shooting Merit Badges…
It’s amusing to read this and note how some folks seem to think an armed populace is a recipe for more shooting, others think it’s a safer environment. The factual side of this argument has already been hashed out, and is unlikely to change any opinions.
What is interesting to note is the default assumptions made by each group. One thinks you can entrust the potential use of deadly force to pretty much anybody qualified to be on a jury. On the other side, they lean towards qualifications, professionalism, loads of oversight, regulation, etc… before deeming that yes, perhaps that person can protect us.
I’d suggest this has a lot to do with one’s mental outlook. If one is an independent sort, one generally expects that same independence and self-reliance in others and it is their default view. If one is a more communal sort, one looks to the authority of the group and concensus and mangement and leadership for their solution and that is their default view.
And weren’t we talking about sheep and sheepdogs just a little while ago? What makes them different from each other?
Maybe it is a mindset, a set of cultural and environmental goggles that color our view of the world we live in, that cause us to so fundamentally disagree on this and other matters.
– Max