But I have trouble seeing the difference between the militia and individual citizens, IF the 2nd amendment is really addressing the militia. If it is, then the militia is the individual citizens, and you have to give them guns and let them be the militia. That's how it was back then.
Well, that's just it... that's how it
was, at a time when the King of England might come stormin' into town, and you'd have to wake everybody up to grab whatever was handy and fight him back.
(Presumably this would be the big, Japanese Mecha-KingofEngland. You know what I mean.)
At the time there was absolutely no distinction between the citizens and the militia. So the fact that, even in those times, they felt the need to point out that this was for military purposes... well, that says a thing or two about intent to me.
"I know some of you are going to say 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut."
-Stephen Colbert