No militia means more intrusive law enforcement: Column
In the time of the Framers, the militia was an armed body consisting of essentially the entire military-age male citizenry. Professional police not having been invented, the militia was the primary tool for enforcing the law in circumstances that went beyond the reach of the town constable, and it was also the primary source of defense against invasions and insurrection.
Calling out the militia thus meant calling out ordinary citizens, trained in military tactics (that’s the “well-regulated” part), bearing their own arms. The Framers — who had a deep and abiding fear of professional standing armies because of abuses by the British Crown — thought this safer. A professional standing army could turn on the people, placing its loyalty with its paymasters rather than with those it was supposed to protect. The militia, on the other hand, couldn’t betray the people because it was the people.
Even short of revolutions and coups, the militia had a different character in ordinary law enforcement than professionals possess. If called upon to enforce an unpopular law, or to enforce the law in an oppressive or unpopular way, the militia could drag its feet and fail to perform. (In this sense, the militia was like a jury, which is free to acquit even a guilty defendant if it thinks conviction would be unjust. In fact, Yale Law Professor Akhil Amar has likened the militia to jurors with guns because, like the jury, it was an institution made up of the people, through which the government must act, and one not susceptible to the kinds of corruption besetting professional institutions).
Wow, now there’s a prescient thought! Since it predates the establishment of police forces everywhere, does the Militia supersede and hold greater authority?
Did some more reading on the subject, so… Nah! One primary bill in 1903 and follow-up legislation define and limit the status and extralegal rights of militia. However, the allure of independent militias formed around a few good buddies is a popular topic on the web and some cases in real life. And life is what those who get too enthusiastic and pit their little gun club and marching society against the privileges of the Federal Government can expect to receive as a sentence. The Federal Government has been funny that way ever since the Civil War. So, save it until we (really, really) need it.
On the North River 