Unlike the other provisions of our Bill of Rights the Supreme Court did not apply it to the states until very recent times in the Heller and McDonald cases. That previously allowed states to wrongfully regulate or restrict our rights to keep and carry weapons. The failure to incorporate that right was in my opinion a deliberate effort by gun haters on the court to derail our liberty. Thankfully Heller and McDonald rulings finally rectified that problem.
Our constitutional rights can't be licensed, taxed or otherwise infringed. They can be regulated only to the extent of people victimizing innocents. Yelling fire in a crowded theater or using a weapon to injure or kill someone unjustifiably are examples of regulation.
As for weapons the Second amendment was not as some fools want to believe a vehicle for arming the government. The militia was never the government! The government already had the power to arm itself.
The idea of the second amendment was to give the citizens arms parity against a government gone wrong. That clearly meant current technology state-of-the-art military type weapons.
Since bearing arms is a right, it cannot be denied to anyone except those who lost that right through due process of law. The right to vote or bear arms is lost in most jurisdictions after a felony conviction. Mental competency is another factor.
The laws of registration, licensing or that required fees, taxes or any scheme to ban such as waiting periods, so called assault weapons or magazine capacity restrictions are in strict violation of the rights of all Americans.
This was never somehow a right only to keep and bear ineffective or inferior arms!
The Second Amendment has been under attack since its inception by those who simply don't like it. Politicians have gotten away with violating gun rights for well over a century because the courts have previously refused to follow the law. A part of that blame has been because of legal malpractice by lawyers that were retained to protect their clients rights.
The biggest lie of all is when those politicians seeking to restrict our rights claim our rights somehow must be balanced against perceived government security needs. Weapons are definite security needs for individual Americans! Gun bans really benefit nobody except criminals and rogue politicians!
The Second Amendment codifies our natural right to defend ourselves and our loved ones. It means exactly what is says in plain language, "The Rights of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
