Missouri considers bill to create armed volunteer militia force for activation in emergencies
Volunteers providing own firearms, ammo and supplies would be placed on a registry the governor could call up with consent from the legislature
A Missouri state senator from Joplin is taking a different approach to a Second Amendment preservation bill, tying it to an official group of armed volunteers.
Sen. Bill White, representing the three-county metro area around Joplin, has proposed the creation of a group known as "The Minutemen of the State" that can be called into service by the governor in the event of a statewide of emergency. Volunteers can join by enrolling with the Department of Public Safety and would be required to secure their own firearms, ammunition, uniforms and other supplies.
While the bill would create a force that would rarely be used, White said, the larger purpose is to protect gun ownership rights that he views as being under threat by a Democratic president and a Democratic majority in Congress.
"It's a novel approach to Second Amendment protections," White said. "Because of the requirement of this bill to provide your own firearms and because those firearms become property of the state that cannot be confiscated by the feds or the state, Washington has no ability to regulate them or tax them."
White said he expects the bill to go through the committee hearing process that began Tuesday. He is also prepared to see the bill languish, giving him the opportunity to refine it for next year's session.
The bill has the same intent as other Second Amendment protection acts.
The Missouri House in February passed a bill that banned local police from enforcing federal gun laws. On the counties White represents, Newton County as well as a Kansas county adjacent to Newton on the state line, Cherokee County, passed similar measures for their jurisdictions.
Such laws and resolutions are viewed by legal experts as largely ceremonial, intended to be symbolic yet not legally binding. Such opinions, however, seem not to consider the Tenth Amendment upon which States’ Rights are based. The theory has not been tested in court recently.
Critics of White's bill have pointed to its creation of yet another volunteer force — Missouri already has the Missouri National Guard and the Missouri Defense Force, a civilian defense organization.
The use of the term "Minutemen" has connotations of militia because of its history. The first appearance of the term surfaced in the 1640s, said John Daley, a history professor at Pittsburg State University in Kansas.
The Minutemen of the Ameriican Revolution provide the inspiration for the name of Missouri State Sen. Bill White’s (R-Joplin) newly proposed armed volunteer force. (Painting: “The Minutemen/Jack Skinner)
"They were authorized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony government, but locally they organized into training bands," Daley said. "This was back when western Massachusetts was considered the frontier. Before then, any man 16 to 60 was automatically in it for local defense."
Because of the connection to the Revolutionary War, Daley said, the term can be romanticized by groups wary of perceived government overreach.
White said the purpose of his Minutemen bill would be for events that create a statewide emergency in Missouri and the requirement of 75% approval from the Missouri Legislature, he said, ensures any reason for its mobilization would have broad acceptance.
"This is not a brownshirt type of organization like opponents have claimed," White said. "It's designed to deal with an Armageddon-type of scenario. Not something the level of the Joplin tornado or New Madrid earthquake, but something bigger."
Because Democrats and Republicans commonly spar in campaigns over gun control, with Democrats favoring tougher laws and more protections, presidential years commonly see spikes in gun sales and active campaigns from gun rights supporters nationwide. But since the mid-1990s, gun laws have been loosened. The last attempt to pass meaningful gun control was in 2013.
While advocates for more control have expressed optimism in Joe Biden's administration, the Democrats' majority in the U.S. Senate is slim and would require support from Republicans to pass any sweeping new legsilation.
On Tuesday, Biden called for more action after two mass shootings in the span of a week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would pick up a bill passed by the House that would close a gun show loophole and expand background checks for most gun sales and transfers.
White said background checks aren't covered in his bill.
"That may take another sentence in my bill," White said. "This bill affects when you own a firearm, and the background check occurs before that."
If White’s bill succeeds, look for other state's to consider similar legislation as a groundswell embracing States’ RIghts such as has not been seen since before the Civil War is underway.