Unlike Oklahoma, Utah not talking about forming state militia

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah legislators leading a national state's rights movement say there has been no discussion here about forming a state militia to help in their fight against the federal government.

Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said even though he has contacts with legislators from around the country, he has not heard about what is happening in Oklahoma. Neither has Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, who has been leading the fight for access to federal lands in Utah.

The Associated Press reported last week that Oklahoma tea party leaders and several conservatives in the Oklahoma Legislature are considering starting an all-volunteer militia, which would aid in that state's attempt to wrench more state control from federal programs and federal lands there.

Wimmer, who helped start the Patrick Henry Caucus in Utah, a movement that is forming in other state legislatures, said he had not heard of that Oklahoma development and couldn't comment on it specifically.

No such militia-forming talk has surfaced here, he said.

The Utah Constitution has an article, written in 1896 when Utah became a state, that says that every able-bodied male in the state between age 18 and 45 is automatically in the state militia.

It is up to the Legislature to organize, equip and train this militia. And under Utah law, that is normally the state National Guard, which is headed by GOP Gov. Gary Herbert.

But there is also the "unorganized" militia, and that consists of all men not in the National Guard.

Some able-bodied Utahns are exempt from the "unorganized" militia, including elected officials, judges, court personnel, firefighters, railway employees and "idiots, lunatics, and persons convicted of infamous crime."

The governor is supposed to "muster" the "unorganized" militia, as directed by the Legislature.

"So, most of us are already in the militia?" joked Wimmer. "I didn't know that."

"No one that I know of has seriously looked into (forming an independent militia) here," said Wimmer, a former police officer.

Noel said he wouldn't want any new militia to carry guns. But he added that an all-volunteer force could be helpful to provide information to visitors and residents alike on which rural roads are open to drivers and which aren't.