bigreb does not understand Miller at all. Miller did nothing that bigreb believes that it did. The below may help.
The U.S. v Miller, revisited
Key Points
♦ Jack Miller and Frank Layton were indicted for taking an unregistered short-barreled shotgun across state lines, allegedly in violation of the National Firearms Arm of 1934 (NFA ’34)
♦ the defendants argued that NFA ’34 violated the Second Amendment
♦ the District Court: ~
◊ held that NFA ’34 was unconstitutional
◊ did not ask the defendants to justify their views in detail
◊ record thus contained no explanation of the defendants’ views
♦ the government asked the Supreme Court to review the District Court decision
♦ the Supreme Court:
◊ never read or heard the defendants’ views, because they were not represented in any form
◊ heard only one side of the matter, the government’s side
◊ did not accept most of the government’s arguments
◊ based its conclusion on a small part of the government’s argument
◊ declared that a short-barreled shotgun was not a "militia" or "military-type" firearm, at the time the Second Amendment was written (late 1700s)
♦ a brief for Miller and Layton might have argued that:
◊ short-barreled and sawed-off shotguns were military weapons, having been usedby both sides in the Civil War
◊ shotguns were widely used by U.S. forces in World War I
◊ the Supreme Court in 1856 implicitly reaffirmed the law-abiding person’s civil right to be armed, when it declared that the government, in the form of a sheriff, had no duty to protect the average person
The U.S. v Miller, revisited