"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
What people often misinterpret is the term "
well regulated." In the language of the 18th Century, it meant able to shoot an arm (weapon)
accurately. Guns are "regulated" by their sights, and we still can find use of that term in gun-related literature today. That is what the framers of the Bill of Rights meant when they wrote the 2A. (When I first read the term "well regulated" I thought it mean well organized with lots of regulations... but it means, simply, able to shoot accurately)
To shoot accurately, for the militia to be well regulated, its members need to be able to keep and bear weapons
so they can practice with them. The framers knew from experience that rapid and accurate fire was (and still is) the
sine qua non of an effective military force. You need to have access to weapons in your home so you can be prepared to use them. If you cannot shoot accurately,
if the militia is not well regulated, it is not going to be effective in its defensive role. And the essence of the militia is that it must be ready at all times; there will not be time for it to be trained when it is needed.
So the point is not that the people will keep and bear
the specific arms that they would bring to a war, although that
could be the case. The militia
could issue weapons to the people called to duty, if it has them, because that would make military sense so the same ammunition and spare parts could be used. Or, if there is no armory in your village or town, the people who rally to the call for the militia
could bring their own weapons. The point of the 2A is that they must shoot well --
the militia must be well regulated.
Back in the day, it would have been a muzzle-loading musket or rifle that you would
keep and bear during your everyday life
. Today, it could be a rifle, or even a pistol, so that your shooting skills are good -- but an AR would be awfully close to what the intent of the 2A was about keeping and bearing.
The militia at the time was
all able-bodied men, and the framers were thinking of things like defending frontier villages from the marauding Hurons during the French and Indian Wars or defending Concord and Lexington from the British Army during the American Revolution. Today we would include women in the militia too, because the Constitution is a living document and changes with the times.
And don't ever think you are too old to be in the militia, to have the right to keep and bear arms. Remember Samuel Whittemore, a 78 years old militia member when he defended his community from the British 47th Regiment of Foot in 1775.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Whittemore