What, you didn’t know you had one? Well, some states, half in fact, don’t. However, twenty-four states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico do and they are the true successors to the Militia. I can’t imagine what the D.C. Defense Force could defend without guns, but still it exists.

Many Americans have never heard of their State Guard units including myself until just recently. So few know about them that my state, Washington has only 60 members. I think this is an opportunity going to waste. State Guard units are now the true successors to the militias that the Framers intended as state and local checks upon federal power. While State Guard units will hold joint training exercises with the National Guard, the State Guard cannot be federalized and called up like the National Guard.

Although State Guard units are not overtly political, their existence is consistent with a constitutional states' rights philosophy, and state guardsmen generally tend to be politically and socially conservative.

Get organized! Ninety million loose cannons are virtually worthless. Become organized and get regulated, in the 1776 sense that is.

Readers who are interested in the State Guard may go to the website of the State Guard Association of the United States (sgaus.org) and click on the link to their respective State Guard unit, or contact the adjutant general of their respective state for further information.