We can Learn from History, So what of LDS History and Militias?

   With history as our guide, we could look back at militias in early LDS history, wondering about their effects.
   It was a militia group that committed the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It was the Carthage Greys who attacked Carthage Jail. It was a militia that committed the Haun's Mill Massacre.
   I wonder on militias. I wonder if sometimes when you create one, they start looking for reason to justify their existence. If a group comes in from Arkansas, the militia might see it as its prerogative to protect against them. If a militia sees a Mormon prophet as false prophet, they will find in killing him a reason for their existence.
   A militia is somewhat worthless if it doesn't have something to do. So, it finds something to do.
   Today's militias? If they are set up as a defense against government gone bad, they will be quick to find government gone bad.
   There is a danger there.
   I think of the words of the Second Amendment. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." I think it ironic that instead of being there to defend our government, many of today's militias consider rising up against it.
   If we can learn from history, what do we learn from LDS history and militias? That if today's militias see their duty as defending us against our own government, they eventually could rise up against it.