Reply #161: But the word "militia" implies organization and oversight too.

[wickerwoman]

And nothing about the definition of well regulated as "in good working order" excludes the additional definition of "subject to appropriate oversight to ensure its proper functioning".

Militia means civilians *trained* to be soldiers but not part of the regular army. It implies that some organization (and please god, not the NRA) is responsible for training and monitoring the use of military-like equipment by civilians.

And if "well regulated" only means "in good working order", then technically it would be fine for civilians to have nuclear weapons as long as they stored them safely.

If people want to own guns, more power to them. But nobody needs armor piercing bullets or the ability to fire two hundred rounds a second. And I think the government is perfectly within its rights restricting access to weapons which serve no purpose except to kill large numbers of people quickly.