"As for case law: I don't recall where anyone has claimed that the States (or the Feds, for that matter) have been restrained by case law on Second Amendment grounds."
I didn't say anyone claimed that. I said that no defendant has ever successfully used the second amendment as protection from some state law. If the second amendment protects a citizen from state gun laws, then where are the cases demonstrating that?
I can cite a half-dozen where the courts have ruled just the opposite -- that the second amendment affords no protection from state laws.
Justice Clarence Thomas may do more than just speculate. He may vote to turn current case law on its head.
Did you hear that he does not believe in stare decisis?