Photo Blog: Militia Hasn’t Left NIdaho

Amid the beautiful trees, mountains and waterways of the Idaho panhandle, a burgeoning group of like-minded individuals banded together to form what they call the Idaho regiment of the Light Foot Militia . Based on the principal that it’s their right to form a constitutional militia to protect themselves and their families against any future aggressors, the Light Foot use surrounding public lands to train in military tactics and survivalist methods, preparing for the worst. Firm believers in the Second Amendment , they consider themselves the “teeth of the constitution.” “But it’s more than just a gun thing,” said Matt Mills McKnight, a photojournalist who has been documenting the militia for two years, photographing more than a dozen training sessions, public meetings and private occasions. “Just because they own guns, and some guns that are some really intense weapons, doesn’t mean that they are any different from you or me.” McKnight pursued the story of the Light Foot after moving to northern Idaho from San Francisco in 2010/ Jon Sweeney , NBC News Photo Blog. More here. (Matt Mills McKnight photo: Cody Hoyt, a corporal in the Idaho regiment of the Light Foot militia, looks west over the Clark Fork River and Lake Pend Oreille near the Idaho and Montana border)

Question: Are you surprised that the militia movement is still active in North Idaho?