Military Rank, Note 2
In the United States, especially, public force was supposed to be exercised by the Militia, which was unconstitutionally abolished and replaced with the "National Guard" by the Dick Act of 1903 -- probably so that free Blacks could be disarmed as part of the institution of Segregation in the Southern States. The National Guard may be a useful institution, but it is not the real Militia and is no substitute for it. The Militia being mentioned many times in the Constitution, Congress has a positive duty to provide for a "well regulated Militia," which now it has not done for a century -- even as federal, state, and local officials have worked tirelessly to "infringe" the right of Americans to keep and bear arms. This is being done supposedly to fight crime; but it is now obvious that Britain became one of the most non-violent of nations when it had no restrictive gun laws, while violent crime has exploded there (beyond the United States in every category except, so far, murder) since lawful gun ownership has been all but eliminated. An American State with very nearly the lowest crime and murder rate, Vermont, actually has no restrictions on honest citizens even carrying concealed weapons (aptly called "Vermont carry"). Other States which have adopted "shall issue" conceal carry permits (like Texas) have seen greater reductions in crime than States that have not (like California).
Encountered during a Wikiwander.
I believe that the Dick act also established that the "unorganized militia" consisted of all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45.
ReplyDeleteMost of the rest is accurate, though state-to-state comparisons are tricky. Consider consider that VT doesn't have any major metropolitan areas.
If you compare Michigan (minus Detroit and Flint) to VT, I believe that MI would come out with an approximately-the-same crime rate.
However, with Detroit and Flint, MI generates a high rate of criminal behavior. There is no difference in gun law between out-state MI and in-the-big-city MI, but there are large quantities of the criminally-inclined in the large cities.
Ooooh, now there's a web site I can waste hours and hours on... AND claim that it's all research!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.friesian.com/#top