Militia Groups: Still A Valid National Security Paradigm?

Given the relative military success of armed militia and partisan groups during the Balkan civil war and the 2003 invasion of Iraq are militia groups still a valid national security paradigm?


By: Ringo Bones


For a number of years now, several lawmakers across the world have deemed Airsoft clubs as nothing more than a training ground for “unregulated militias”, and yet militia groups have lately been praised as the last line of defense against imperialism. With the relatively successful resistance posed by militia groups acting in a partisan capacity form a military standpoint during the turbulent Balkan region civil war of the 1990s and the ill-advised invasion of Iraq by the Bush Administration back in 2003. It could be said that as long as an invading imperialist armed with the latest state-of-the-art weaponry like stealth bombers and the H-bomb still adheres to the Geneva Convention and related rules of war. The invading imperialists seem to be powerless when facing against modestly equipped ragtag militia groups acting in a partisan capacity. But is there any truth to this?

There has been a “silent revolution” moving across the world – especially citizens of relatively stable democracies – for their respective lawmakers to grand them gun owning privileges modeled after the American Second Amendment as a deterrent against their country accidentally electing a tyrannical leader or an invading army. Since the end of the Cold War, it seems that fiscal austerity became the norm when it comes to national defense spending of most relatively stable democracies during much of the 1990s. But the 9/11 attacks changed all that and the very same countries now face the problem of bolstering their national defense as fast as possible while spending as little as reasonably possible.

This is where the citizen-militia comes in. Private gun owners – especially those who own infantry style assault weapons that are more often than not of higher quality and better maintained than those issued in their respective national armies – can act in a sort of partisan capacity. Harassing the invading enemy until the invaders eventually get sick and tired of it and give up to go home. Given the recent events documenting the relative success of such scenarios, one can easily conclude that private assault rifle owners – in particular – could be truly a typical country’s last line of defense. This is where Airsoft clubs could serve its usefulness as a training ground for basic firearms safety and first-hand exposure to military-style operations to the civilian gun enthusiast.