Adam Kinzinger discusses the National Guard:

“At any moment, the president can grab control of the guard, even over the objections of the governor. And if that sounds strange, it kind of is. It’s not just strange. It might actually break the spirit of the Second Amendment. Because remember the Second Amendment, it’s not just about your right to keep and bear arms. It actually starts with this line. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state. A militia by definition was supposed to be independent of federal power. But if the president can just federalize the guard at any time he wants, especially for domestic use, can we honestly call it a state militia?”

“The founders did not put militias in the Constitution so that they could just be turned into a second standing army. They put them in there as a check on federal power. Joseph Story was an early Supreme Court justice. He said that militias were quote the natural defense of a free country and a protection against the usurppation of rulers. By the way, that only works if states actually have a militia that the president can’t just commandeer.”

“But now in an era where executive powers stretched and abused, where Donald Trump openly talks about and uses the military against American citizens, it’s not just a dusty legal question anymore. It’s actually urgent. So I want you to think about it. If your state’s guard, the force that you think of as yours, can be grabbed by Washington at any time and turned against you, then what’s left of the militia of the Second Amendment promise. You know that safeguard against tyranny, it’s gone.”

“And if the guard isn’t really a state militia anymore, then one of the pillars of the Second Amendment that the right loves so much has already crumbled without us even noticing. This isn’t about right or left. It’s about balance of power.”

“Governors should have more authority over their guards.”

“And if we care about the Constitution, not just the slogans, but if we care about the real thing, then we need to recognize that a militia controlled by the president isn’t a militia at all. It’s just another arm of the federal government.”

“So ask yourselves, if the founders wrote the Second Amendment to make sure militias could act as a check on federal overreach, what happens to our freedoms when that militia no longer exists in any real sense or when it’s turned against its own people?”

“Maybe it’s time to fight for the independence of the Guard again, particularly for domestic use before the Guard is continuing to be used against us in more states, in more communities.”

4 ¼ minute video:
https://youtu.be/AHNPxMSj6qA?si=CL78rhjHrGEfPch9