[NineseveN]

Originally Posted by Brick

I'm familiar with 10 USC S 311. But Pennsylvania really confuses me.

As I understand it, Pa's Constitution is relatively new and except for a few amendments since, was adopted in 1968. So because this is not an "old" constitution, it could be argued that Pa doesn't recognize any "militia" except the National Guard.

Pa's constitution was authored by Benjamin Franklin and passed September 28, 1776


Interesting and of note:
http://www.saf.org/LawReviews/FieldsAndHardy.html

Pennsylvania adopted a bill of rights only a few months after Virginia, but its political situation was nearly the opposite of the one in Mason's state. The Pennsylvania convention was dominated by a radical coalition whose political base consisted of small farmers in the western part of the state and "mechanics," or skilled tradesmen, in Philadelphia. Its product was decidedly Jeffersonian in nature, extending the franchise to any taxpayer over the age of twenty-one, and giving a greater scope to individual rights. [98] John Adams later would note that Pennsylvania's "bill of rights [was] almost verbatim from that [p.29] of Virginia." [99] Respecting the militia issue, however, the word "almost" is one that bears emphasis because Pennsylvania clearly departed from the Virginia approach by deleting the Virginia reference to well-regulated militias and by adding a new recognition "[t]hat the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the State." [100]

http://www.constitution.org/jw/acm_3-m.htm



The original PA militia law designated who was part of the militia, but it has been amended out of existence through the years IIRC.