General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe media and public need to stop using the title of "militia" for these yayhoos
While it's become part of the lexicon of angry White dissent that anyone in America who daringly straps on a sidearm and occupies federal land while voicing angry White dissent has formed their own self governed "militia"; really, they have not. What the Cliven Clan and their ilk have done - taken over public property, armed with guns and absurd rhetoric, makes them criminal trespassers and wannabe anarchists, nothing more.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)fredamae
(4,458 posts)"Harney County Sheriff David Ward on Sunday afternoon said a group of militants that seized an eastern Oregon wildlife refuge is trying to overthrow the local and federal governments"
His definition is clear.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)In the U.S., the term has legal meaning:
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/311
fredamae
(4,458 posts)of their intent....is accurate---his terminology isn't....he -imo/understanding - absolutely should have called them "terrorists" not "militia" if he is accurately (and I believe he is) describing their intent.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)He's called them "militants," which is perfectly accurate.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)But headline writers don't always get it right.
Igel
(35,337 posts)We refer to the organizations occupying parts of Syria as "militias."
Which are they--part of the National Guard or unorganized. Because by using the word "militia" we only mean males 17 years of age or older, under 45, citizens of the US.
Russia has its own militia. The word "militia," though, is more or less the national equivalent of the police.
I like the following definitions for the common English word (not part of legal jargon):
1. a body of citizens enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but serving full time only in emergencies.
2. a body of citizen soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers.
3. all able-bodied males considered by law eligible for military service.
4. a body of citizens organized in a paramilitary group and typically regarding themselves as defenders of individual rights against the presumed interference of the federal government.
Covers all the usual meanings. Short and functional.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Those places don't adhere to US Constitutional definitions or restrictions. Burns, Oregon, unless a secret secession has taken place, is subject to US law and the Constitution along with all its "legal jargon".
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Many people think that we have the Second Amendment so that we can take up arms against the government if it overreaches its authority. If that interpretation were correct, it would mean that the Second Amendment had repealed the Constitutions treason clause, which defines this crime as taking up arms against the government. In reality, in the first decade after the Constitution, the government put down several rebellions similar to Shays - and nobody claimed that they were merely asserting their Second Amendment rights.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/amendment-don-article-1.1223900
MissB
(15,812 posts)The Oregonian even explained why. Other news outlets in oregon are following suit.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)ˈmiləd(ə nt/
adjective
1.
combative and aggressive in support of a political or social cause, and typically favoring extreme, violent, or confrontational methods.
"a militant nationalist"
synonyms: aggressive, violent, belligerent, bellicose, vigorous, forceful, active, fierce, combative, pugnacious; More
noun
1.
a militant person.
synonyms: activist, extremist, radical, young turk, zealot
"the demands of the militants"
Igel
(35,337 posts)One difference being that a militia is pretty much uniformly armed, while militants don't need to ever carry a firearm or engage in violence.