Do you believe state militia should exist?

As long as they do not violate any laws and are not advocating any hate based ideology, I don't see a reason why not. However, I question their purpose. There are plenty of government and non-government agencies that respond to disasters. It seems like these would get in the way. And as several others here have stated, there are state guards to augment that National Guard in many states. I would be that many of these are people who left the service and miss it but are too old or out of shape to go back in. Some are probably people who never joined for one reason or another but this makes them feel like they are "serving."

I had seen the discussion here, and thought I might perhaps share an aspect that, till now, might perhaps have eluded notice. If you and/or those reading here might possibly be able to look at the website http://www.sgaus.org, the organization involved the State Guard Assoc. of the U.S. (SGAUS), about which I have read for some time now, purely out of general interest, seems to be pretty much the major admin organization nationwide for the legitimate and approved state-sanctioned militias (I believe). In NY, e.g., if you look at the websites for the NY-State Dept. of Mil. and Naval Affairs (DMNA), you see the sub-websites for both the NY Guard (NYG), an SGAUS member organization, as well as the NY Naval Militia (NYNM), which, as I will try to explain, at least from what I have read, seems to be rather different, incl. historical material, I believe, on both. I have read and seen websites that the NYG has actually been activated twice in relatively recent history, the first with everything that happened in Manhattan about a decade and a half ago, and, most recently, for Hurricane Sandy, for which they received, in both instances, considerable and very well-served praise. The NYNM I am uncertain about, though, for both instances, I think it might well also have been activated, as well. There are certain very differences between them, at least from what I have read; the NYNM, from what I have read, is, I gather, Federally approved, and uses, principally, drilling USN, USMC, and USCG personnel who opt to drill with NY-State through the NYNM for points, which accounts for somewhere around 95%+ of their membership, I believe. The NYG, by contrast, functions solely as an auxiliary to, albeit a very real one, for the NY Army and Air Natl. Guards, also from what I have read. At one point, from what I had also read, the NYG had been reorganized into, at one point, separate army and air divisions, to attach, specifically, with NY Army and Air Natl. Guard units and/or installation. However, I had read that, for whatever reason, that approach, which might have been done partially for experimental reasons, apparently was unsuccessful, and, for that reason, both divisions were then reconsolidated under an essentially Army-based "umbrella", if you will. I gather the insignia tags on their uniforms says "NEW YORK GUARD" or something similar, though if you look at the DMNA site, there is an actual enlistment, with a very real contract, though, I also had heard, members can opt to forego pay voluntarily, by choice, if that would be their preference (I think). I don't know if the NYNM insignia mirror its analogous NY-State function; however, I gather from what I read that the heads of both bodies fall under the NY-State Adjutant Genl. and the Governor, and, at least from what I have seen, are high-level professional military retirees. They do also have their own installations and training programs, incl., from what I read, a full boot camp program, and (I think) quite possibly their own separate OCS of some sort. From what I have read, purely out of an interest in military history in general, both organizations are very impressive, serious, highly professional, and extremely competently run organizations very closely aligned with their respective Federal services. As an example, I had also read that the NYG apparently has a civil-affairs group (CAG) that assists NY-State-based Guard/Reserve personnel with their personal paperwork, e.g., wills and such. Also, interestingly, that the NYG may (I think) have been one of the first uniformed groups to have actually incorporated chiropractors directly into its clinical component; I had read that at one point, which I actually found quite progressive in terms of organizational and also clinical outlook, by all means, to my way of thinking. I had also read something about those same chiropractors having been involved with treating the various emergency staff during both of their recent activations, though, of course, I had read about all of that some time ago. I just have a long-standing and very avid interest in such arcane aspects of military history and little-known organizations and facets, and thought I might just share the foregoing, on the off chance there might have possibly been any interest, given the present discussion; if anyone might possibly care to know anymore, I would be only too glad to try to explain what else I might have learned along the way. In any event a nice holiday and new year to all, by all means, as well, from both my wife as well as myself.

My Dad's Grandpa (John O. Dawson) was a member of the 7th Regiment Cavalry, MSM. During the Battle of Lone Jack he had a horse shot out from under him. Wounded in action and later received a disability pension from the Government.
After stating that, yes I believe these volunteer units do provide a service. I know they've received bad publicity because of the militias in Idaho(my state) and such, but these guys listed in some of the posts, want to help, and so let 'em.

There seems to be some confusion about what a State Militia actually is. For those of you who remember the hit TV show "Highway Patrol" staring Broderick Crawford as Dan Mathews, when the show opens up it states that State Police, State Troopers, Highway Patrol, and other such state agencies are the State's Militia. Your thoughts please.

Their main job is to provide volunteer support to the National Guard and to back up the Guard for state emergencies when many NG members are federalized.

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Here in Arizona we have both private militias (which in my opinion are a bunch of yahoos) and also have authorized a State Defense Force in the Arizona Constitution but it has not actually been mobilized, or even started.

SFC Mark Merino, are you familiar with this?

Yes.

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Like all things in this World the answer is in the detail, and there are really no detail to the question you posed. In a historical sense, the state's National Guard and reserve forces are militias and all armed citizens could be considered militia as well...but it depends on the details of how one is defining things.

Yes, even with the NG, their should be an additional volunteer force, this is what being a citizen soldier is all about.

I believe it was in the Constitution....