About Those Militias

Like a lot of people, I was alarmed by news last week of an alleged far-right plot to kidnap Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, a plot that included plans to attack the Michigan state capitol in Lansing with the intent of starting a civil war.

Thankfully, such violent and treasonous plans were foiled, and on Thursday the FBI announced that 13 men with ties to armed anti-government groups in Michigan are now facing charges related to the alleged plot. According to the FBI affidavit, much of this plot was foreshadowed or advanced via social media and other online platforms.

Of course, these developments come at a time when armed individuals and groups are becoming an ever more visible presence at public demonstrations, intimidating and even killing those gathered to protest racial injustice and police brutality.

Emboldened by the increasingly authoritarian rhetoric of President Donald Trump, some of these groups are even planning to show up at polling stations on Election Day to “guard” the voting process.

Yesterday while out driving, I heard a very informative segment on NPR's All Things Considered program, one that focused on the legality of the numerous private militia groups we’re seeing springing up around the country. In discussing this issue, some crucial questions were raised:

Are these groups actually permitted under the Constitution?

Are they legal under the Second Amendment, given its provision for a “well-regulated militia”?

Here's how one of the show’s guests, former CIA analyst Cindy Otis, answered these important questions:

[W]ell-regulated means well-regulated by the state, by the government. So even pre-independence in the colonies, when there was an antipathy towards standing armies – they didn't want to have a standing army – so what they did is they said, we will have a militia.

Militia means all able-bodied residents between certain ages who are available to be called forth by the government in defense of the state. And once called forth, they answer to the government. They're trained by the government. They're directed and regulated by the government. That was, of course, baked into the Second Amendment, and it's baked into the constitutions of the states as well. So there's no ability for groups of individuals to sort of call themselves forth.

Another guest on the show was Mary McCord, the legal director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law. From 2016-2017, McCord served as acting U.S. assistant attorney general for national security. Here’s what she said about the issue of militias:

[These groups are] very prevalent, unfortunately. I mean, more and more new ones are springing up, including, you know, we have nationwide organizations. And, frankly, I’m just not going to mention their names on air because I think it just helps them with recruitment, and it helps them to feel normalized. But we also have small, like, county groups that are self-organizing.

And many of them are doing this because they fancy themselves as patriots. They will refer to themselves as patriots and say it’s their duty to defend and protect the Constitution. But, of course, they’re the ones deciding how the Constitution should be interpreted, and they’re doing so completely outside of government accountability and outside of, you know, any actual authorized authority.

Related Off-site Links:
Michigan Domestic Terror Plot Sends Shockwaves Through Militia World – Hannah Allam (NPR News, October 9, 2020).
Extremism Researcher On Prevalence of Militia Groups in the Pandemic – Audie Cornish (NPR News, October 8, 2020).
“A Threat to a Fair Election”: Experts Warn of Danger Posed by Armed Pro-Trump Poll Watchers – Kenny Stancil (Common Dreams, October 9, 2020).
How We Should Defend Against the Impending Trump Coup – Jeremy Brecher (Common Dreams, October 9, 2020).
America's Cold Civil War – Marianne Willianson (Newsweek, September 28, 2020).
Patriot Games: A Brief History of Militias in America – Sara Rathod (Mother Jones, 2016).

UPDATES: Trump Rally Crowd Chants “Lock Her Up” About Michigan Gov. Whitmer, Target of Alleged Kidnapping Plot – John Fritze (USA Today, October 17, 2020).
Michigan Gov. Whitmer Says Trump Incites Domestic Terrorism – Barbara Sprunt (NPR News, October 18, 2020).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In Charlottesville, the Face of Terrorism In the U.S.
• “Fascism Is Upon Us”
• “New and Very Dangerous”: The Extreme Right-Wing Infiltration of the George Floyd Protests
• Trump’s America: Normalized White Supremacy and a Rising Tide of Racist Violence
• “We Have an Emergency On Our Hands”: Marianne Williamson On the “Freefall” of American Democracy
• Rep. Ilhan Omar Responds to President Trump’s Authoritarian Threats
• Shaun King on White Privilege in America
• Something to Think About – January 4, 2016

Image: Members of the West Ohio Minutemen Militia outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland (2016). (Photo: Rex Features via AP Images)