Indiana Militia Corps
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- This page describes the privately organized militia. For the official State of Indiana armed force, see the National Guard.
The Indiana Militia Corps is a private militia organization in the United States state of Indiana. Like the more prominent Michigan Militia, it is a militia organized by armed citizens.
Like all "citizen militias", they derive their authority from the common law and are in no way a government agency or an organized military unit. They are private citizens, in voluntary association, and self-funded. The United States armed forces do not recognize them, and such militias have been controversial since their popularity swelled in the 1990's among alarmed gun-rights and libertarian activists.
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[edit] Origin and description
The group was organized on September 29, 2001 by William A. Flatt and Michael Niese. The Indiana Militia Corps maintains an affiliation with the Third Continental Congress, from which William Flatt was commissioned as a Major General. See "[Public affairs and the Third Continental Congress]"
The IMC describes itself as "a group of law-abiding citizens formed for the purpose of defending the Constitution of the United States and the Indiana state against all enemies, both foreign and domestic, and to help provide security and support services for local government and other lawful authorities and for the citizens and inhabitants of Indiana, and the United States in time of natural disaster or emergency."
The Indiana Militia denies membership to anyone who is or has been "a member of, or associated with" any "subversive" groups "including but not limited to communist or socialist front groups, New Black Panthers, Aryan Nations, Ku Klux Klan, Communist Party USA or the United Nations Association of America."
It identifies itself as part of the "patriot movement," but not "anti-government." Their mission statement references the protection of the rights of citizens, defending the state and US constitutions from any threat foreign or domestic, and they recognize that a constitutionally limited government is needed to secure and protect individuals' rights from infringement.
[edit] Militia Controversy Rooted in the 1990's
Militias have their detractors, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Indiana Militia Corps is a strong militia-movement critic of these organizations, and expresses severe objection to their characterization of militias. Although the Indiana Militia Corps did not form until after 2000 and operates differently than many militias formed in the 1990's, militia detractors have characterized the IMC with essentially the same language, dropping pejorative references to racism, criminal activity and anti-semitism after losing a civil case to a militia leader in another state, and after IMC contacted the SPLC to formally complain regarding pejorative descriptions on their website that were factually unsupported. The SPLC since has referred to the IMC with the ill-defined phrase, "extremist".
The Indiana Militia Corps has devoted an extensive amount of space on their official website expounding on their positions, values and beliefs. They stress that they bear no relation to the portrayals made by those who are hostile to them.
[edit] Public affairs and the "Third Continental Congress"
The Indiana Militia Corps is affiliated with the Third Continental Congress ("3CC") as a part of their "Militia Network". In 2003, the 3CC issued a General rank commission to William Flatt to help organize and coordinate states' citizen militias. After the 3CC website shut down in 2006, the organization emerged with a minimally-functioning website in 2008. The 3CC appears to be in a process of reorganization both online and offline.
[edit] Publications
The Indiana Militia publishes "The LIBERATOR", whose stated theme is "...the liberation of America from the enslaving influences of globalism and statist thinking". Publication of the newsletter appears to have superseded both editorial and news pages on the website in 2006. By 2008, publication seems to have settled on a quarterly format. According to militia documents, the newsletter is eponymous for abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison's weekly journal, The Liberator The Indiana Militia Corps also has produced a couple manuals similar and style to United States Armed Forces military manuals. These manuals offer a combination of training subjects and doctrine.
