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Originally Posted by publius42
So if a militia has to be authorized, does that mean the Minutemen in the Revolutionary War were authorized by the British government?
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The Minutemen were a select group of the larger colonial militias authorized by their colonial charters. Some of these charters (like Connecticut's in 1662 included the right of self government) but these militias answered to the colonial governments to answer your question. So yes all legal and legitimate militias MUST be authorized by and answer to a government. Otherwise, they are a mob with guns.
FWIW, General Charles Lee thought little of them (the Minutemen) and General Geroge Washington's disdain of the militia in general is well documented.