Why are you bringing state militias into this conversation?
Oh silly me, that was when we had a
Federal Government not a
National one. In those days, every state had its own army (Militia). The militias were seen as the counter to the power of the standing Federal Army, in the event the Federal Army was used as an instrument to impose tyranny.
(My state of origin was invaded by two of those State militias, at the behest of the Federal Government, and not defended by it. The result was the first deaths of what came to be known as The Civil War. (The Pratt Street Riots) The Governor of the State failed to call out the State Militia, but had ordered them to place their arms in the armories which remained locked. Not only was the State invaded, but by the end of that conflict, my family had lost well over half of their landholdings, and that just in one State. Never again.)
The bottom line was that the presence of arms in the hand of the people would serve as the bulwark against tyranny, imposed by the Federal Government, should it become ambitious in that regard.
The Right continues thus, despite the shift in the form of governance.
