In addition to the prohibitive cost and effort to setup and maintain such a program, I believe all 50 states have laws on the books that make it illegal to organize and train in military tactics without prior authorization from the state.[1]
The law doesn't say that at all. They're not allowed to perform law enforcement _functions_. There's nothing that prevents them from /training/ to do so.
A “paramilitary organization” is
“an organization of two or more persons who engage or conspire to engage in
military instruction or training in
warfare or sabotage for the purpose of unlawfully causing physical injury to
any
person or unlawfully damaging the
property of any person.” N.Y. Mil. Law § 240(6)(b)(i).
Perhaps, but do you think these groups would NOT train just because of some state law?
It feels like the "no scammers" thing you see on Craigslist ads; as if some scammer would say, "Darn, and I was really hoping to cash in on THIS one; I guess I'm out."
>>[...]but do you think these groups would NOT train just because of some state law?
To your point, the groups will likely continue to train (seemingly illegally), but the quality of the groups will definitely be degraded due to the more limited pool of qualified trainers driven by the presumably high-deterrence of state laws. The original comment above asked why we don't see high(er) performing militia groups, and these types of state laws seem like a strong contributing factor.