Militia Groups

The self-described militia groups that began to form during the 1990s were part of a grassroots movement challenging the authority of the federal government to intervene in local affairs. The use of the term militia was intended to bring to mind the Jeffersonian political philosophy framing one side of the argument about national defense in the early years of the United States.

The relationship of these militia groups to the libertar-ian debates of the early republic were, however, something of a stretch. Historically, a militia was an armed force recruited by a central authority from the civilian population of a particular county or region, usually to serve in defense [Page 532]of the home territory. The use of militias increasingly gave way to a combination of conscript and professional mili-taries in both continental Europe and Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries; however, locally controlled mili-tias continued to be important in the United States up until World War I.

Despite skepticism and resistance on the part of the professional military and of the Federalist Party under George Washington, support for militias was enshrined in the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution: “A well regu-lated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

Although widely interpreted in the latter part of the 20th century as referring to an individual's right to own firearms, the 2nd Amendment was shaped by the constitu-tional conflict between those in favor of a strong national government and those who saw militias as a guarantee against the abuse of power by such a government. This debate continued throughout the 19th century. Militia units played a significant role in the War of 1812 and the Civil War, but their importance declined sharply thereafter. At the end of the 19th century, the militias themselves were replaced by National Guard units, sponsored and funded by the individual states. The federal Militia Act of 1903 recog-nized these new National Guard units as the “Organized Militia” of the United States, and the National Defense Act of 1916 gave substantial control and training responsibility over the Guard units to the regular Army. The latter law con-tinues to govern federal–state military relations.

The first self-described militia groups appeared in 1993, catalyzed by two bloody confrontations between federal law enforcement agencies and private citizens. The first confronta-tion was between federal fugitive Randall Weaver and the U.S. Marshall Service. Weaver, a minor figure in extreme right-wing American politics, refused to appear for trial and retreated along with his family to their remote home at Ruby Ridge in the mountains of northern Idaho, resulting in a months-long standoff. On August 21, 1992, after a firefight in the surround-ing woods left both federal Marshall William Degan and Weaver's 14-year-old son, Samuel, dead, the standoff escalated into a bloody siege. Several people were killed, including Weaver's wife, Vicki. Ten days after the siege began (August 31), a wounded Randy Weaver surrendered to the FBI.

In 1993, a similar standoff took place between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and a religious group calling itself the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. As in the Weaver case, the Waco conflict ended in a siege, with the Davidian compound surrounded by hundreds of federal law enforcement agents. However, the Waco stand-off ended much more violently than did Ruby Ridge. The onset of an assault by law enforcement led to the appar-ently intentional immolation of the compound by the Davidians themselves, causing the deaths of scores of peo-ple, including many children.

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