Since the 2A was a limit places primarily on the Federal Government, the States have rights to regulate what they feel is safe and what is not in their own states. And the courts have the right to rule on those state regulations. You don't like the regulations in the state you live in, get them changed.
See the Tenth Amendment.
There are powers/rights belonging to the federal government, there are powers/rights belonging to the states,and there are powers/rights belonging to the people.
To whom does the right to keep and bear arms, as affirmed in the Second Amendment, belong?
Does the Second Amendment speak of a right of the states to keep and bear arms? If so, then the states do indeed, as you say, have the authority to control this right.
Out of all the Bill of Rights, only the First Amendment is written in a way that suggests that it applies only to the federal government, and not to equally to state and local governments.
So, does the State of California, or the City of Sacramento, in which I live, have the power to tell me what church I may or may not belong to, or what opinions I may or may not express? Oddly, I think that was actually the original intent; I think they imagined that people of similar religious and moral viewpoints would gather together in communities with like-minded people, and wanted to allow communities up to the state-level to establish rules based on their commonly-held values. It didn't workout that way and under incorporation under the Fourteenth Amendment, all levels of government are required to uphold the rights in the First Amendment.
Most of the remainder of the Bill of Rights speaks of rights that belong,not to the federal government, not to the states, not to any part of government at all, but to the people. The Second Amendment is most explicit on this point, in identifying the right which it affirms as belonging to the people. This means that no part of any level of government has any authority whatsoever to violate any of these rights, and never did, even before incorporation under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The 2A is just too vague. Or at least the last part of it. Let's take a look at the whole thing.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
When the US was formed, it went as far to limit the total number of Army to 75,000. No single state could really come up with more than that but it was deemed that 3 states or more could. And all the weapons would be equal. The States had canons just like the Feds had. In fact, due to most of the canons used in the Revolutionary war being from private individuals and then returned, the States probably had access to more canons than the Feds had. The fear of a Military Despot Federal Regime was driving this. This is why the Confederates actually had an advantage in the first part of the Civil War. The weapons were, more or less, equal.
But during the Civil war, like every other war, an Industrial Revolution was set off. In this case, it was a Firearms Revolution. The Manufacturing advantage the North had had a huge advantage and it just got more important. In the end, Galtins were introduced by the North. And the Hotchiss Canon was introduced where almost any small unit could have a piece of artillery that didn't require a casson wagon to go with it. That little 2 in breech loaded artillery firing grape shot was devistating. If you don't think so, just ask the Soiux. Custer had the choice to take both of these weapons with him and elected not to. Had he done so, it would have been a rout. (side note, there was a massacre but it was the Souix that got massacred. Out of 4000, they lost about 2000 and it was the last major Indian Battle). The Civil War had to relax the first part of the 2A.
After the Civil War, the strength of the Army was put back to 75,000. But the weapons continued to be more and more lethal. Artillery had come into it's own. When the Spanish American War came along, the folly of the locked 75K was noted. The US was ill prepared manpower wise. And another exception had to be made. The National Guard Act of 1898 was passed. It was a temporary act for the Spanish American war only. It Federalized the States Guards with the permission of the States Governors. Most Governors freely gave their permission but not all.
When it was known that WWI was on the cusp, they passed the 1916/17 National Guard Act that still stands today taking the option away from the States Governor concerning Federalizing the States Guard making them the National Guard. There are provision in it for a State to have their own Defense Force or DFS which many of the personnel would be exempt if they don't meet the requirements to be called up for Federal Duty. This stands today without a whole lot of changes.
Because of things like the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (and others) and Posse Comatatis (sp),
There has been limits placed on the President in using the US Military on US Soil. The need of:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, is no longer needed. It's still there but no 3 states has the power to stop the Federal Military if a President were to overthrow the Federal Government except the Military would not follow him to do it. In my own Oath says that I would do my damnedest to prevent it from happening. This is why when President Rump ordered the 82nd to go to DC, they followed his orders by going. When they go there, they followed their own orders and just sat down and could not engage the civilians. They were ordered home by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and that was the end of it. Today's Military cannot be used like it was once used.
Now let's look at the other part.
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Are you aware that this was taken almost word for word from the Magna Carta from 1215 and then it was almost word for word from the British Petition of Rights in 1625? There were no firearms in 1215 and very few in 1625. A good well trained group of Longbowmen were much more effective than the early firearms of those days. Since Firearms were not the issue, they used the term "Arms" meaning any weapon of war or conflict from daggers, clubs, swords, pikes, etc.. The common person was allowed to have it all. There came a saying from those days, Swords to Plows. Meaning, the common man, who was short on metals, would take his sword and recast it to something useful like Bits for his Bridles, Stirrups, kitchen utensils and more. About the only thing he kept as a Dagger which was useful to skin animals, self defense and to carve out bowls.
Outside of some minute things, our Bill of Rights and Constitution were written from those two documents. The problem was, the King during the 1700s didn't think they applied to the Colonies. He would NEVER attempt to do what he was doing to a British Citizen in England. So we used the British Laws meant for the British Citizens in Britain.
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Does not say what arms, or how many or what type, how lethal. It was written in a time when the arms of the common man was equal to that of the Military. Even in the Magna Carta times, every citizen had the right to those weapons. Most just chose not to with the possible exception of a dagger or a knife of some kind. The Pictures of all those peasants running around with swords is strictly Movie Fiction.
Weapons have gotten so deadly starting in the Spanish American War that the common person has no need for the more nasty weapons. And probably doesn't have the wisdom to even have them around. It's no longer up to the individual to determine that.; It's up to the Government and the Courts to determine that. What the 2nd A does is keeps the Feds out of it. It limits the Feds on everything other than the really, really nasty weapons. And it opens the door to allowing "Reasonable" Firearms to be determined by the States.
You can agree or disagree with this but that's just the way it is.
