Meanwhile, we do not give up our rights of self-defense and bearing arms. However, there is a real problem with individuals taking it upon themselves to form their own private armies. We are not talking about legitimate self-defense. But militias are citizen's armies, armies intended to wage war under the lawful authority of the local government. However, the modern militia movement is not normally in submission to a lesser magistrate, and therefore operates outside lawful authority.
Contemporary militias argue that they have the right as free men to band together in self-defense.
This is unquestionably their right. There is also merit to the argument, that to enforce the lawful authority of the state, especially during crises, breakdown of civil government, riots, etc. The difference between a militia and an armed mob is training and submission to lawful authority. Since neither local police forces nor county sheriffs seem willing to provide such training, free men have the right to train themselves. There is some merit in this argument since most militia training seems to consist of basic familiarity with firearms, land navigation, working with larger groups, etc.