Basically true, Kim. But militias in colonial America weren't primarily intended to defend the townspeople against the British regulars; they were mainly intended to protect them from the "savages," and maybe some marauding French trappers.

Even accepting your premise, though, are you really keeping your guns in the hopes that they'll enable you to win in a shootout with the U.S. Army? Have you seen the kind of hardware those guys have these days? If you expect to match firepower with the feds, you and your neighbors may want to consider picking up something more than a few personal sidearms. Suddenly my sarcastic mention of landmines and nerve gas seems like a more plausible scenario -- which is not at all what I intended.