the.com/militia
Citizens who elect themselves soldiers, usually right before things get messy.
means A military force made up of ordinary citizens rather than professional soldiers, called up for emergencies instead of kept standing year-round.
from From Latin militia, meaning military service or warfare, itself from miles, 'soldier.' The Latin word originally just meant soldiering as a condition or duty, not a type of force — English borrowed it in the 1500s-1600s and narrowed it to mean a citizen army, as opposed to a professional one, which is the sense that stuck.
- constitutional cameo
- name-dropped in the Second Amendment, debated ever since
- original idea
- farmers grab muskets, defend town, return to farming
- modern version
- often less farming, more group chats and camo
- legal status
- some state-recognized, most just armed opinions