Reply #275: That's easy: When the 2nd was written, the King's Army carried this:

[ryanus]

therefore the arms that an the individual had MATCHED that of the army.

The Founders warned about the dangers of a standing army and wanted the POWER of the people to be in the MILITIA. There are two types of militias: organized (like a state militia, ie National Guard), and unorganized militia (every able-bodied man between the ages of 16 and 45).

If you think times have change and that because we have standing armies, police, etc that the individual citizen should not had the same arms that the police and army do, then you have to change the constitution because the 2nd amendment says that you can't infringe on the right for an individual to be armed.

Don't try to play games with the definition of who the militia is either:

§ 311. Militia: composition and classes
a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00000311----000-.html