Just finished reading this book

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

2. To quote the author:

"The Second Amendment was meant to accomplish two distinct goals…First, it was meant to guarantee the individual’s right to have arms for self-defense and self-preservation. These privately owned arms were meant to serve a larger purpose as well...and it is the coupling of these two objectives that has caused the most confusion. The customary American militia necessitated an armed public...the militia (being)...the body of the people. The argument that today’s National Guardsmen, members of a select militia, would constitute the only persons entitled to keep and bear arms has no historical foundation."

Joyce Lee Malcolm (born October 17, 1941) is the Patrick Henry Professor of Constitutional Law and the Second Amendment at George Mason University School of Law.

Looks like an exceptional read.