The Militia, a Legal and Social Movement Analysis: Will the Real Militia Please Stand Up? Militia Hate Group or the Constitutional Militia?

Abstract

Some legal analysts charge that the militia maintains clear ties to white supremacist organizations, but little research has actually examined the ideology of militia groups (Williams 1996; Stern 1995; Dees and Corcoran 1996; Barkun 1998; Abanes 1996). This exploratory research provides a preliminary sketch of the militia's ideology by conducting both a content analysis and a narrative analysis of one militia manual and a narrative analysis of an Internet militia newsletter. Additionally, this paper reviews legal scholars' analysis of the Second Amendment revealing that two probable types of militia groups may exist. These include what we call the constitutional militia and the hate militia. Our content analysis reveals that at least one militia group most closely resembles a hate-group social movement organization with 86 percent of the phrases identified as falling within that ideological framework. Our narrative analysis reveals that the Militia of Montana's (MOM) heightened focus on the first ten amendments to the Constitution clearly excludes women and people of color. Finally, our analysis of the “Modern Militia” electronic newsletter reveals that over time a publication primarily concerned with the federal government's abuse of power became a clearly anti-Semitic and racist publication.