Montana GOP Lawmaker Submits Bill To Create Armed Paramilitary Militia Force

A Republican lawmaker in Montana has submitted legislation that would create a volunteer "armed paramilitary group" appointed to help regulate the state.

According to State Rep. Wendy Warburton's House Bill 278, the force would be used "to fill the gap between community service organizations, such as a neighborhood watch program and the Montana national guard, and to provide the state and its local communities with the ability to call upon trained and organized volunteers when necessary resources are otherwise unavailable."

While once outlined as a "militia" in her bill, Warburton has since amended the legislation to deem it a "Home Guard." According to the bill, "Captains" of each troop would be appointed by the state's governor, who would in turn populate a list of their own officers.

The Associated Press reports that there has been some push back on the proposed creation of the "military-like companies":

The House State Administration committee held a hearing on the bill on Friday. The measure drew opposition from a Montana Human Rights Network representative who says it could be abused by anti-government extremists.

A GOP lawmaker in Arizona also proposed a bill to the state's Legislature last month that would create a citizen-militia battalion to help patrol the southern border.

Read the entire bill from Montana here.

Comments

[IndependentBadger]

03:48 PM on 03/24/2011

This is what happens when you let your kid play "guns" his whole life, instead of, oh, literacy.

[IndependentBadger]

03:44 PM on 03/24/2011

Let me get this straight. The STATE executive handpicks the officers, and the officers handpick their own men?

Wait. Is this article about Libya, or Zimbabwe? I forgot.

[Jeanne021556]

02:25 PM on 02/13/2011

I'm now convinced that American's are losing their minds. This bill is so ridiculous I couldn't believe it is real. Just call it the Timothy McVey Patriot Bill.... God help us if she get's her way.

[axt113]

01:34 AM on 02/12/2011

A part of me hopes that these cons actually try and launch a civil war, they would be crushed and the president could declare the GOP a terrorist organization and round up the entire party

[MajorKong]

04:39 PM on 02/10/2011

I can only imagine the cries from the black-helicopters-are-coming-to-get-us folks if a Democrat were to propose something like this.

[Erik Somerfeld]

09:28 PM on 02/08/2011

By the way, there I'm Powerfarmer.

[MJinCanada]

01:42 PM on 02/09/2011

*Hugs*

[Erik Somerfeld]

09:27 PM on 02/08/2011

If you like the comments here trying to defend this read the ones in the Billings Gazette, they get really loony and come up with Armeggedon scenerios that have entire police and fire departments disappearing and the good citizens of Billings running amok and rioting after a tornado.

My origional arguement thst if these guys truly cared about their communities they would join a VFD, QRU, EMT, Sheriff's Reserve, Search and Rescue or CERT.

[Berettasskeeter]

11:23 AM on 02/09/2011

Have you seen any reports stating that absolutely none of them may already belong to such groups?
Semper fi

[Erik Somerfeld]

08:24 PM on 02/09/2011

If they were they wouldn't need to be part of this. In my county here, many people are members of their VFD and QRU or EMTs. Others have combinations of Search and Rescue and Sheriff's Reserve. Some do even more. And no one is too old to help, my VFD has a guy in his seventies that will drive a tender truck and monitor radios, just not engage in actual fire attack. If the backers of this wanted to help out, they could be doing it everyday in one of these organizations. These end of the world scenerios just don't hold any water. Speaking of water, we have trained on a major dam breech to the west of us that would involve three counties and multiple agencies. Where does the armed militia fit in?

[MJinCanada]

01:41 PM on 02/09/2011

They don't seem to have much faith in their friends and neighbours being able to behave themselves in an emergency, do they?

I blame American television. So-called reality shows make it seem that the stupid, venal, violent, idiotic and nasty 10% are the majority.

[Berettasskeeter]

07:57 AM on 02/10/2011

You have faith in your neighbors? How about those who are not your neighbors? Did you watch the video's of New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago, or any other city that has suffered rioting?!
Semper fi

[nananance]

12:23 PM on 02/08/2011

We have met the enemy and they are us

[Olderandwiser55]

12:54 AM on 02/08/2011

Interesting blog from Montana here-and a really amusing link at the bottom

http://mtcowgirl.com/2011/02/04/some-questions-on-the-montana-gops-militia-proposal/

There are normal people there too..

[MJinCanada]

12:42 PM on 02/08/2011

Nice. I liked this one:
#
Powerfarmer
February 5, 2011 at 9:15 am · Reply

If this was truly about being ready for an emergency these loonies tunes could join a local volunteer fire department, QRU or EMT org, sheriff’s reserve, search and rescue or CERT. How many news articles and TV reports talk about shortages of volunteers for groups like these? The Guard, even during the height of Iraq, with large numbers deployed were able to supply helicopter air support for a 6000 acre fire that we had. Can anyone give me a legitimate situation in which these wannabe Rambos would be needed. They need to quit replaying Red Dawn and thinking that its the Feds coming not the Russians. Wolverines!

[Olderandwiser55]

03:48 PM on 02/08/2011

Lol. Yes, there are a lot of pretty good Montana blogs-the power of the internet. I really enjoyed reading them.

People forget. but the montana "freemen" actually were so disliked by neighboring ranchers(which is difficult there-very live and let live) that the ranchers called the feds. So, I'm hoping intelligence prevails here.

[rainbow69]

06:51 PM on 02/07/2011

Hey, OdinsEye, you would do well to learn the difference between someone expressing an opinion about your comments and someone trying to refute your comments:
re·fute/riˈfyo͞ot/Verb
1. Prove (a statement or theory) to be wrong or false; disprove.
I expressed my opinion. If you need to feel you "won," so be it.

[Jack Davies]

02:54 PM on 02/07/2011

I guess they don't have the National Guard there?

[huffytiker]

04:11 PM on 02/07/2011

They do, but most of the Guard has been deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan.

[dancingstu]

04:24 PM on 02/07/2011

They do, but this is for the people who are too afraid to enlist, but still want to harass their fellow citizens and carry automatic weapons in public.

[Berettasskeeter]

11:25 AM on 02/09/2011

You know this, how?? Has the group been so defined? If not, what inside information might you have that proves your statement, vilifying the people who may volunteer?!
Semper fi

[sfwomanvoter]

02:51 PM on 02/07/2011

I am sure that the police in the state love this idea. A bunch of wackos with guns on the loose.

[OdinsEye]

04:38 PM on 02/07/2011

Most police in the states which already have SDFs have not problem with it.

[doodlebug2]

02:45 PM on 02/07/2011

Volksgrenadiers!

[mataylor16]

02:45 PM on 02/07/2011

Awesome. Now that this is in effect and Sharia has been banned, I feel so much more secure about the fate of our Republic. For a while, I thought we were going crazy in this country.

[KIVPossum]

02:42 PM on 02/07/2011

More of that Well Regulated Milita junk

[dancingstu]

04:25 PM on 02/07/2011

I guess they're okay with the fact that the U.S. Constitution and the United States Code would both authorize President Obama to take charge of this militia, if he needed to.

[Berettasskeeter]

12:05 PM on 02/09/2011

Neither give the President to take charge of this volunteer militia!
Semper fi

[Berettasskeeter]

12:07 PM on 02/09/2011

See "Eric N Roberson", poster, below.
Semper fi