[Kerberos]

"When James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights in the late 1780s, people were still suspicious of any centralized federal government"

As many still are.

[nobdysfool]

"When James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights in the late 1780s, people were still suspicious of any centralized federal government"

Precisely why the 2nd Amendment MUST apply to individuals. If States only can keep and bear arms, within the context of militias, then we have one part of government supposedly protecting the people from another part of government. That's a little like having the fox guard the henhouse...and the people still get screwed. What if the State government is just as corrupt and power hungry as the Federal? The Amendment MUST refer to individuals, because the whole idea, as Madison saw and dealt with it, was a distrust of centralized government IN ANY FORM. What difference is there if the abusive central government is the Federal government, or the State government? A difference which makes no difference, IS no difference