That's why SCOTUS will be in a bind. If they hear the DC case & rule against the plain meaning of the 2A, then they will have established that the Constitution means whatever one wants it to mean. Added to CFR/1A, it will become clear to even the most sanguine of individuals that our republic is slipping away.
However, if they rule in favor of the DC decision in support of the clear meaning of the 2A, then, as you say, 22k laws are wiped clean. How will the nation respond to such freedom? Instead of people trained and accustomed to their rights, we'll have a sudden freeing of restrictions.
How does this play with the growth & usurpation of government over the last 70 years? Would a militarily armed populace ever have allowed such a development to occur?
IOW, if SCOTUS rules in favor of the 2A, look out. Alternatively, if they rule against it, look out. This is a result of what happens when judicial activism retards the political debate.
My own take is that SCOTUS will ultimately rule in favor of the 2A, which then would launch an amendment process that would grant some level of regulation to the states. This is where the debate should have been all along, instead of taken away from us by the robed ones.
Such amendments would set off the same sort of firestorm as a judical ruling that nullified the Second Amendment.
I don't believe any such amendments can be so narrowly cast as to allow some truly reasonable regulation but not infringement. Heck we have a rule now that says "shall not be infringed" which all agree applies to Congress, but that hasn't stopped them from infringing up storm, especially from '68 onwards, but also in '34.
Some times a tree is much healthier after a bit of "pruning".
Chuck, I am wondering myself, if and when SCOTUS agrees to hear this case, if we will see the States attempt to pass lefislation that would see laws in place upon a ruling by SCOTUS the @A is indeed an individual right.
Laws in the works concerning the confiscation of firearms in a ‘disaster’ may be a precursor to a rush of new laws.
I may be wrong but I have a very good feeling that SCOTUS is going to do the right thing here. I think that might be why the NRA is a bit nervous about this. They just might be seeing the bread and butter slipping away.