National Association of Governors Supports The Right To Bear Arms

The following cites are from the article "Army says it won't cut National Guard, Reserve troops" by Drew Brown of Nightrider newspapers.

The Army has no plans to cut National Guard and Army Reserve troops, senior Army officials said Thursday, responding to complaints from governors and members of Congress that the Army's restructuring plan would weaken those forces.
In the 2007 budget plan that President Bush will send to Congress next week, the Army proposes funding 333,000 troops for the National Guard and 189,000 for the Army Reserve, the current totals. That's 17,000 fewer Guardsmen and 16,000 fewer Reserves than Congress has authorized.

I believe the ideal of reducing the national guard and army reserve troops is foolish as citizen-soldiers are more likely to be loyal to the needs of the citizen and less loyal to the structure of military control.

The National Association of Governors lobbied the Pentagon against reductions. The National Guard has provided almost 50 percent of the combat troops in Iraq, plus peacekeepers in the Balkans and the Sinai and 90 percent of the troops on the ground after Hurricane Katrina, the governors association said in a letter Jan. 19 to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

"We need more Guard troops at this time, not less," the letter said. "Given their performance at this time in our history, it is inconceivable that anyone would seriously consider a reduction in the National Guard force structure."

I agree with the National Association of Governors in this case though they are most likely concerned with the power of the state while I am more concerned with the power of the individual.

U.S. Constitution Amendment II
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.

The signers of the Bill of Rights understood all too well how important to a citizen the right to bear arms is. Sad as it is to say the one with the biggest guns is often the one calling the shots. If you remove guns from the people then it becomes much simpler for the government to dominate them. You will find that rarely did a slave revolt succeed for this reason.