What I've been posting over the past few weeks (and over the years) is this: it's time to turn the regulating of the militia into a weekend convention for gun enthusiasts, sanctioned by state national guards.
In Federalist #29, Alexander Hamilton writes:
The project of disciplining all the militia of the United States is as futile as it would be injurious, if it were capable of being carried into execution. A tolerable expertness in military movements is a business that requires time and practice. It is not a day, or even a week, that will suffice for the attainment of it. To oblige the great body of the yeomanry, and of the other classes of the citizens, to be under arms for the purpose of going through military exercises and evolutions, as often as might be necessary to acquire the degree of perfection which would entitle them to the character of a well-regulated militia, would be a real grievance to the people, and a serious public inconvenience and loss. It would form an annual deduction from the productive labor of the country, to an amount which, calculating upon the present numbers of the people, would not fall far short of the whole expense of the civil establishments of all the States. To attempt a thing which would abridge the mass of labor and industry to so considerable an extent, would be unwise: and the experiment, if made, could not succeed, because it would not long be endured. Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped; and in order to see that this be not neglected, it will be necessary to assemble them once or twice in the course of a year.
Hamilton expected that the "militia" gather once or twice a year for inspection by officers of the state, or they cannot consider themselves to be "well-regulated." Inspection would include demonstrating that their arms are kept in good working order, and that they are proficient in its use.
One way for gun owners to turn the debate would be to suggest that the states offer "militia inspections" once or twice a year. If a state were serious about doing this, it could be practical to have a unit of a state's national guard travel from region to region and hold weekend "boot-camps" at a reserve army base for volunteers to attend.
I'm sure there are many bitter-clingers who would love to sign up for a weekend getaway to practice being a militia once or twice a year.
This would be a way to make the "militia" argument real and practical, not some archaic term-of-art from a time-gone-by.
-PJ
>> “•Make it a program that someone has to register and pay for.” <<
.
So that the thugs will have the ownership data with which to proceed with confiscation?