dscntnt: following are taken from the Oxford English Dictionary......and bracket in time the writing of the 2nd amendment:
You, or rather your source, simply cite, evidently, anecdotal writings from here & there, with no definition of 'regulate' provided, as I did by citing webster's 1828 dictionary, & herewith by citing samuel johnsons's 1755 dictionary, both of which bracket the writing of the 2ndA:
Sam Johnson's 1755 Dictionary
Régulate. v.a. [regula, Lat.] To adjust by rule or method.
Nature, in the production of things, always designs them to partake of certain, regulated, established essences, which are to be the models of all things to be produced: this, in that crude sense, would need some better explication. Locke.
To direct. Regulate the patient in his manner of living. Wiseman. Ev'n goddesses are women; and no wife
Has pow'r to regulate her husband's life. Dryden.
http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/?p=8802
dscntnt link: The phrase "well-regulated" was in common use long before 1789, and remained so for a century thereafter. It referred to the property of something being in proper working order. Something that was well-regulated was calibrated correctly, functioning as expected.
Well regulated could certainly be used in that fashion, and this argument could certainly be incorporated into its 2ndA interpretation, but in itself does not exclude rules & regulations over firearm use in the militia, and control thereof while in militia. Firearms would most surely need be calibrated & functioning correctly.
Establishing government oversight of the people's arms was not only not the intent in using the phrase in the 2nd amendment, it was precisely to render the government powerless to do so that the founders wrote it.
Specious. Controlling citizen's arms was not much a concern in 1791, they weren't as dangerous as guns today; it was more like prompting them to own arms for militia duty since they were so short handed.
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