state militias
Local armed forces
State militias are armed forces organized and controlled by individual U.S. states rather than the federal government.
The term most often refers to the National Guard units that exist in each state, though historically it included any able-bodied citizens who could be called to defend their state.
The governor deployed the state militia during the emergency.
The Second Amendment's reference to "a well regulated Militia" keeps the concept central to American gun rights debates.
- MinutemenColonial instant-ready militia
- adjutantsAssistants to senior officers
- reserve forcesSecondary military personnel
- Second AmendmentConstitutional gun rights clause
- right to bear armsConstitutional weapon ownership guarantee
colonial militias · posse comitatus · muster · command hierarchy · federal oversight · armories · citizen-soldiers · homeland defense · border security · disaster response · patriots · Revolutionary War · civil defense · home guard · Continental Army · call to arms · homeland · frontier
- militiacitizen soldier, citizen soldiers, minutemen, citizen army, territorials
- American HistoryAmerican Revolution, Revolutionary War, colonial era, founding fathers, Declaration of Independence
- Border StatesKentucky, Delaware, Missouri, Maryland, West Virginia
- Confederation EraArticles of Confederation, Constitutional Convention, Continental Congress, interstate commerce, war debts
- military administrationpersonnel management, service records, personnel files, enlistment, promotions
- state historystatehood, founding documents, pioneers, early settlers, colonial era
state militiasregular army
Nation's permanent military force
standing army · United States Army · federal troops · professional army · career soldiers
state militiasirregular forces
Unofficial armed combatants
guerrilla fighters · paramilitary groups · insurgents · vigilantes · rebel forces