[robertpaulsen]

"In other words, the right to keep and bear arms existed before there ever was a federal government."

Of course.

Whether that right was protected is a different matter altogether.

[William Tell]

robertpaulsen said: "Whether that right [which pre-dates the Constitution] was protected is a different matter altogether."

Now, was that right, which pre-dated the Constitution, just a right of militias to be armed, or was it a right of people to keep and bear arms so that they might form militias when necessary?

And how did this right cease to exist at the time of the Ninth Circuit's decision in Silveira vs. Lockyer?

The US Supreme Court was able to find a right to kill unborn babies, but the Ninth Circuit can't find a right which robertpaulsen recognizes pre-dates the Constitution.

In light of this pre-existing right, how should the Ninth have decided Silveira?