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THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
Article. I.
Section. 8.
Clause 1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
Clause 10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
Clause 11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
Clause 12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
Clause 13: To provide and maintain a Navy;
Clause 14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
Clause 15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
Clause 16: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
Section. 10.
Clause 3: No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
Article. II.
Section. 2.
Clause 1: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
The Constitution clearly shows that the Power to create an Army and Naval Forces was granted to the Federal Government, and denied to the States, when the Constitution was ratified by the States.
The Constitution also shows that the States had pre-existing Militias, to be retained by the States and under the control of the States, except under specific circumstances, when the President would be the Commander in Chief of the Militia. Congress was granted the power of organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, so that they would have a common structure when it became necessary to call several State's militia into Federal service. No other Troops, or Ships of War were to be under the control of the States.
That is the context that must be remembered when we read:
Amendment II
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.
The initial plan for the common defense was that there would be no standing army, there would be a naval force, and there would be State controlled militia forces that could be called upon as the need arose.
That eliminated the need for taxes to support a standing army that did nothing productive, and removed the risk of a military uprising attempting to overthrow the civilian government (something the people of the time were afraid of). The militia was composed of civilians that were expected to keep their arms available and prepared for use, when it became necessary for them to be called to bear arms in defense of the State or Federal government. Notice that the Congress had the power of arming the militia; they could provide arms suitable for the military function the Militia was expected to perform. Cannon and other large weapons would be the providence of the Congress.
That does not give the Congress the power to limit the type of firearms available for use by the individuals that made up the militia; it gives the Congress the power to specify which weapons were to be used during a Militia call out to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.
The State governments had control over the appointment of officers, and the training of the Militia in order to meet the specifications set forth by the Congress for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia. Since the people of each state controlled their own state government via the ballot box, the people also controlled the Militia within each state.
The Second Amendment recognized that an individual right to keep and bear arms was necessary, in order for the State to exercise the powers that it held prior to the creation of the federal government, and which were recognized in the body of the Constitution. The federal government is prohibited from infringing on the right of any individual to keep and bear arms, as that would prevent the State from being able to control it's own Militia.
The Second Amendment did nothing to alter the powers of the State governments to control which persons were allowed to keep and bear arms, or to be a part of the State's Militia.
The second amendment recognizes both an individual and a collective right to keep and bears arms. The collective right is dependant on the individual right; the militia as a collective, can not exist without the individual. The individual right can exist without the collective right.