This was inspired by a loose dialog involving myself, Hermit and the man formerly known as Kaiservontexan. I think there are some words it is just better to avoid. Maybe I am not standing up for my rights (a well regulated militia…) or anything like that but looking at it pragmatically life is too short for such drama.

I suggest that the word militia should be mothballed. You do not want to get anywhere near a militia. Short of swigging on a fifth of whiskey while driving back and forth in front of the police station I can’t see a quicker way to complicate your life. At least the DUI and assorted other tickets are a pretty easy albeit expensive fix. As Hermit said “there’s an old joke that when a militia meets, of the ten people in the room, three are undercover FBI, two are undercover BATF, three more are paid informants,one is the organizer and one is some guy who wandered in looking for directions”.

Let me choose my words very carefully. I can think of at least one person in particular who would probably be living peacefully in a cabin on a mountain if he had shown some good sense and stayed away from these sorts of organizations. They will bring you nothing but trouble. Also conspiracy is a pretty open ended word which I seek to stay far away from. I am not sure exactly where the line between a hypothetical conversation between “friends” over beer #7 stops and conspiracy starts but I don’t want to find out.

Don’t join, form, or discuss a militia. Maybe you have some shooting friends or whatever and that is great. Maybe you all have the mutual interests of firearms, tactical training and libertarianism but just leave it at that. If you and a few close friends think it might be a good idea to get together in a time of crisis that is wonderful but leave it at that.

The other word is compound. I think if you have a compound the ATF immediately starts a siege. You don’t need a compound (though a rural home with a walled inner courtyard might be nice) and you really don’t need to talk about a compound with anyone, especially people from that militia I told you not to hang around.

Maybe it is stupid that some words and associations will complicate your life when they shouldn’t. I try not to look at how (pretty much all) things should be but instead at how they are. If calling an orange an orange gets you punched in the face but calling it an apple means you get to walk home and eat the orange just laugh it off as one of the worlds little eccentricities.