Reports on social media claim that the “Dick Act of 1902 … invalidates all so-called gun control laws.” This statement is false. The Militia Act, which was also adopted in 1903 and not in 1902, is also known as the Dick Act and created two militias in the United States: the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard, the Naval Militia and the state army, and the reserve militia, which then consisted of all bodily men between the ages of 18 and 45 who were not currently serving in the army. Contrary to what the posts claim, there is nothing in this law that prohibits subsequent legislation restricting the sale or possession of guns.
Examples of postings that make this claim can be found here and here.
The Dick Act of 1903 (or HR 11,654), named after Charles WF Dick, a U.S. congressman from Ohio, “created the establishment of the modern National Guard with greater federal support for and control over state units,” as stated here by the Council. explain. on foreign relations.
Provided by the Library of Congress, the full text of the law is available here (a transcript can be seen here). In summary, the law established two categories of militias: the “organized militia or the National Guard” which referred to “the regularly designated, organized and uniformed civilian force”, and the “disorganized or reserve militia”, which referred to “any competent militia “-laid citizen between eighteen and forty-five. ”
The social media reports falsely claim that the Dick Act established three classes of militias: “the National Guard of the State, the territory and the District of Columbia, the disorganized civilian force and the ordinary army.” The U.S. military is not a civilian force, and the Dick Act does not define it as such.
William M. Donnelly, senior historian of the US Army Center of Military History, told Reuters that the allegations of the posts of the Dick Act ‘invalidate all so-called gun control laws’ are untrue because’ there is nothing in them the Dick Act which would prohibit subsequent legislation restricting the sale / possession of firearms. ”
“The only mention of firearms in the law is the federal government providing weapons to the National Guard units,” Donnelly said. Further writing by Donnelly on the Dick Act and the history of the National Guard can be seen here.
In addition, the National Guard Bureau of History Office confirmed by email to Reuters that Dick science has never been interpreted to invalidate gun laws or prevent future legislation restricting access to firearms.
When this exact allegation circulated in 2013, Snopes published a fact-checking article and concluded that it was false here.
VERDICT
Untrue.
The Dick Act of 1903 created two classes of militias in the United States: the organized militia (the National Guard) and the reserve militia. Nothing in the law prohibits subsequent laws restricting the sale or possession of guns.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.