Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Who are the Militia? [View all]hansberrym
(1,571 posts)jimmy said; The unorg'd militia did not come about till early 1800's, years after the 2ndA was written. You can't apply the unorg'd militia as being what madison & ff intended in 1791.
PA did not have an organized militia until after 1776, the unorganized militia in PA predated the organized militia.
Read the various state militia acts, they had both train bands (those currently in training) and call lists.
Hamilton in Federalist 29 calls for training only a portion of the militia, while arming "the people at large":
The project of disciplining all the militia of the United States is as futile as it would be injurious, if it were capable of being carried into execution. A tolerable expertness in military movements is a business that requires time and practice. It is not a day, or even a week, that will suffice for the attainment of it. To oblige the great body of the yeomanry, and of the other classes of the citizens, to be under arms for the purpose of going through military exercises and evolutions, as often as might be necessary to acquire the degree of perfection which would entitle them to the character of a well-regulated militia, would be a real grievance to the people, and a serious public inconvenience and loss. It would form an annual deduction from the productive labor of the country, to an amount which, calculating upon the present numbers of the people, would not fall far short of the whole expense of the civil establishments of all the States. To attempt a thing which would abridge the mass of labor and industry to so considerable an extent, would be unwise: and the experiment, if made, could not succeed, because it would not long be endured. Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped; and in order to see that this be not neglected, it will be necessary to assemble them once or twice in the course of a year"
Previously I have read your comments and thought you must be feigning ignorance of facts which are well known to those who have studied the issue. But your last few posts (including yesterday's) lead me in another direction. I see now that it is not an act, you really do not know what you are talking about.