'Who are the Militia? Are They Not Ourselves?'

If the founders were alive today, I believe they would be very concerned – because the Constitution is clear that the only militias protected by the Second Amendment are “well-regulated” units authorized and controlled by state governments, not a private citizen militia. [More]

Would that those even existed!

That said, Tench Coxe is probably a more reliable authority to gauge founding sentiment than left-wing Snopes, and everyone at the time (except the tyranny "loyalists") felt pretty good about Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. More to the point, no branch of government is legitimately, that is, Constitutionally, authorized to forbid private gatherings and training of armed citizens, and to do so would be to infringe on their right to bear arms as well as to freely associate and peaceably assemble.

[Via Michael G]