What Is Martial Law?

Martial law consists of the imposition of direct military control over areas that are normally reserved as civilian functions of government. Martial law is used when the government wants to force its will upon the people. And we have seen martial law be enacted in a number of places for a variety of circumstances over the years.

One of the more notable circumstances was when martial law was declared over the Tiananmen Square protests many years ago.

When it comes to the United States, congressional approval is needed first before any national martial law can be declared, where the military takes over domestic law enforcement duties. However, it's also suggested that the Supreme Court has interpreted martial law as something which can be enacted by the President as well. Aside from being enacted on a national scale, martial law can also be triggered by a governor for their own state.

In the US, state leaders have taken it upon themselves to institute martial law on various occasions for their own regions. The typical sorts of situations that might escalate to such a situation would be things like labor strikes, political protests, riots, it could be used during an economic collapse, and more.

The scene below is from the response to the Boston marathon bombing several years ago.

What's the problem?...

When martial law gets enacted, it suspends civil liberties for everyone and not just those who are considered to be a threat who they are looking to find. Everyone has their liberty suspended.

We have seen that the public under these conditions, often are not free from unreasonable searches and seizure, neither are they free to move or associate with whomever they would like to during that time because of strict curfews. Many members of the public during a time of martial law are going to have their right to due process violated and there is never justification for this; in a society which parades itself as being a free one.

Law enforcement officials should not need to suspend the rights for 1 party in order to go about catching another.

When it comes to crimes being committed, law enforcement should be the one tasked with dealing with the situation; it shouldn't be dissolved into a tyrannical military-style occupation.

When the public accepts demands for them to suspend their rights and give up their civil liberties, that is not going to establish a safe environment for them. It will do the opposite and it's a very dangerous scenario to be in.

Political elites today all too often appear too eager to sacrifice liberty for the public. And they have for quite some time been engaging in a widespread violation of Constitutionally-protected rights of US citizens. The continued erosion of individual liberty in the US has been characterized by many as a means by which republics have been known to fall and such measures might fuel conditions that could contribute to the arrival of tyrants.

Whenever there is some sort of crisis that occurs, the government will often seek to increase its powers and even after the crisis has passed, we've seen that the state often doesn't relinquish that new power and won't resort back to the condition of things before the crisis. If an attack takes place, no matter the size of the event, we need to observe carefully how the state responds to that act and hopefully their actions are going to be in-line with promoting liberty, but we know that this often isn't the case.

Pics:
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Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/04/22/the-police-response-to-the-boston-marathon-bombing/?utm_term=.e5cef4121397
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/ron-paul-boston-bombings_n_3179489
http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/law/law-divisions-and-codes/martial-law
http://investmentwatchblog.com/historic-moment-this-is-what-martial-law-looks-like/
https://mises.org/library/martial-law-vs-market-law-reflections-boston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law#.C2.A0United_States