Well Regulated Militia
BY Herschel Smith
5 hours, 29 minutes ago
David Codrea, quoting Richard Henry Lee.
“A militia when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves, and render regular troops in great measure unnecessary. The powers to form and arm the militia, to appoint their officers, and to command their services, are very important; nor ought they in a confederated republic to be lodged, solely, in any one member of the government. First, the constitution ought to secure a genuine [ ] and guard against a select militia, by providing that the militia shall always be kept well organized, armed, and disciplined, and include, according to the past and general usage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms; and that all regulations tending to render this general militia ― useless and defenceless, by establishing select corps of militia, or distinct bodies of military men, not having permament interests and attachments in the community is to be avoided. …To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them….”
Then he quite rhetorically asks, “What about well regulated?”
Go read David’s piece.
Here’s what well regulated means from the Oxford English Dictionary.
“The equation of time … is the adjustment of the difference of time as shown by a well-regulated clock and a true sun dial.”
Functioning properly. “Something that was well-regulated was calibrated correctly.” “Working as expected, calibrated correctly, normal, regular.”
On March 6, 2025 at 12:14 am, Dan said:
The commie left and the gun grabbers know EXACTLY what the Second Amendment says and means. They don’t care. They want us disarmed. And will do quite literally ANYTHING required to accomplish that. And they will NEVER give up or go away. There can be no negotiating with them, no coexistence.
On March 6, 2025 at 12:46 am, Georgiaboy61 said:
“Well-regulated” – during the time of the Founders – also meant “well-equipped” or “well=trained,” not simply properly functioning.
In this context, a “well-regulated militia” meant one that was trained, equipped and operated so as to be the equivalent of a professional army of the same size.
In today’s world, the nearest equivalent to the type of force of which the Founders spoke/wrote is perhaps not to be found in the U.S. but in Switzerland.
The Swiss model has compulsory military service for a brief interval after secondary (high) school, after which all males save those who wish to make the military their career, are released to their civilian pursuits but remain in reserve. The small but highly competent cadre are formed by these professionals, who serve as the institutional skeleton and musculature of the large mixed active-reserve force.
Swiss males are issued a military-pattern rifle and are allotted an annual ammunition supply, both of which must be kept on hand ready for use in his home, should the need arise from some sort of emergency or call-up. He is expected to remain proficient in its use, and many Swiss take part in regular shooting competition events and training of other sorts, to this end.
Let there be no mistake: The Swiss are a nation of riflemen. A story from just before the Great War illustrates the point. A delegation from the Kaiser’s Imperial Germany visited Switzerland, and embarked upon an inspection tour, the culmination of which was an opportunity for the Kaiser to ‘troop the line’ of an honor guard – an assembled formation of elite Swiss soldiers.
Stopping in front of the senior non-comm, an old sergeant major, the Kaiser quipped that his army was twice the size of that of Switzerland, what would Germany’s smaller neighbor do if the Kaiser’s army decided to invade their mountain home?
The grizzled old campaigner thought for a moment, and then replied: “Then, your excellency, my riflemen would each have to shoot twice…”
Swiss armed neutrality held during both World Wars and there was no Holocaust on Swiss soil…
On March 6, 2025 at 2:10 am, Georgiaboy61 said:
Returning to the Founder’s conception of colonial militia, during the War of Independence from Great Britain, George Washington and his senior officers comprised the “professional” military of the yet-to-be-born new republic. They wore uniforms, had a traditional hierarchy and rank structure of officers and enlisted men, were paid a wage for service, and so forth. They were, insofar as was possible at the time, professional military men.
The reserve component of the resistance was in large part made up of yeoman farmers and other de facto reservists whose normal occupation was not soldiering. These colonial militia fought side-by-side with their professional brethren, but under somewhat different terms. For one thing, they were in the fullest sense of the word volunteers. While part of their units, they were subject to the orders of officers and non-commissioned officers senior in rank to them.
The real difference was that colonial “militia” could come or go at their discretion. The Founders intended the system to work this way since most of these men had left behind farms or other business concerns which could require their presence at any time, particularly during harvest.
This is one of the greatest differences between the modern military and that of colonial times: No one was forced or compelled to serve – it was strictly voluntary.
The key takeaway here is that if the state/government cannot compel you to remain in uniform, and if you are free to come/go as you please, then the ability of the central government or other authority to wage unpopular wars or wars of choice (“elective” conflicts) is vastly lessened.
That’s the vital difference between then and now: The militiamen of that time were free men, and not de facto slaves compelled to serve an empire or government whose actions they may not even have supported….
And if one drills down deep enough into the so-called “recruiting crisis,” this problem lies at its heart. Numbers are down not because Americans won’t fight for their country; they are down because they recognize unnecessary wars when they see them, and want no part of them.