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.

@Heartlander who does the regulating?

@DailyFlash

A state's regulated militia doesn't deprive an an individual of their right to have and bear arms.

It's like a city's right to form and fund an orchestra doesn't give it the right to prevent an individual from blowing their own horn(s).

@Heartlander Only certain individuals have the right to bear arms. Therefore, the government does infringe on the specified right that it says it is not to infringe on.

@Heartlander Does your State have a militia and, if so, what are the qualifications for joining it and who is its head?

@Diotrephes I would think it's the right of the citizens to come together and form a militia. Being well regulated distinguishes it from a gang of people with guns not intent on providing for the safety and security.

Lots of counties and communities have a sheriff's posse. States have a national guard. And their are various citizens' patrols to augment the police.

I grew up in a community that had a volunteer fire department with thousands of members. It was very well organized and operated 6 or 7 fire stations in a network. As I recall, they also could be called upon to handle non-fire emergencies.

Freedom isn't necessarily facilitated in a top down manner, it's also bottom up. We are self governed at the bottom. That's the beauty of the USA. we get to rule ourselves.

@Heartlander The original purpose of the Second Amendment was to give free White men the right to have guns to form militias (slave patrols) to suppress slave uprisings and to form local groups to fight the Indians and to take their lands.

The majority of State constitutions word the right to bear arms as an individual right that is not related to membership in any damn militia. But a couple use the same language as in the federal constitution.

@Diotrephes Some states had laws that prohibited non-whites from possessing firearms. And that made it much easier for the KKK and others to intimidate them and deprive them of all their rights.

Like with all our rights, city, county, state and the federal government selectively protected or ignored those rights, and it many cases the selection was used to suppress. But that doesn't make the rights themselves flawed. It makes the politicians scoundrels flawed. Actions by the government to selectively not protecting the right to vote, to assemble, to protest, to be judged by a jury of peers, to possess a firearm all had enormous horrible consequences on Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans.

It wasn't just slave patrols. It was the US Army that hunted down slaves or put down slave rebellions, and even later, after the Civil war, when Blacks protested. One deadly rampage took place in the 1890s just 3 city blocks from where I grew up. Or research what happened at Wounded Knee. It was a botched attempt by the US Calvary to disarm the Lakota.

@Heartlander The interesting thing about American Indians getting guns and ammo was that some Jews were the main gun runners.

There was widespread belief that the Indians were related to the Jews through one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViGts7Tp1GQ

I'll bet you have never heard of this guy =
The Jewish Trader called “One Tongue” by Native Americans
https://aish.com/the-jewish-trader-called-one-tongue-by-native-americans/