To the editor:

Recently the governor of Kansas and the adjutant general of Indiana have been making comments regarding the deployment of the National Guard and its affect on state readiness.

Since the National Guard Act of 1900, the Guard has been a reserve component of the national military forces. It has an incidental role in assisting the states in disasters. Funding for equipment and training is from the federal government. The state’s call on the Guard is secondary to military necessity.

Rudy Perpich, former governor of Minnesota, challenged the federal government’s role in sending Minnesota troops to Latin America for training. The Supreme Court upheld that the Second Amendment did not apply to the state’s control over the National Guard as the Guard is an army rather than a militia.

The practical effect is that the state of Kansas needs a disaster response system that does not rely on federal equipment and personnel. The state does have a massive work force that could be trained for mobilization. The state also has heavy equipment. Disaster response might affect some ongoing projects, but that is what disasters do.

Earl L. Haehl,

Lawrence