Nice selective quote. And it is from the Syllabus, not the actual decision, it has no force of law whatsoever. (That's the clerk's summary of the decision
What the clerk actually wrote was:
The Court can not take judicial notice that a shotgun having a barrel less than 18 inches long has today any reasonable relation to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia; and therefore can not say that the Second Amendment guarantees to the citizen the right to keep and bear such a weapon
Note : any reasonable relationship" is not the same as "must be issued to state militia units". But as I said, that language was not the court's and has no legal force.
What the court wrote was:
In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a "shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length" at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense. Aymette v. State, 2 Humphreys (Tenn.) 154, 158.
BTW, that cite is to a *state* court case. Unlike the second amendment, that state Constitution had an RKBA provision that included the words "for the common defense" and still does. That the citizens of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defense". Article 1, Section 26.
The quote was contained in the opinion of Mr. Justice McReynolds in US v Miller.
"BTW, that cite is to a *state* court case."
Yes. And the Tennessee constitution at the time read, "that the free white men of this state have a right to keep and bear arms for their common defence."
Interesting that the Miller court would only cite one case, Aymette v Tennessee, and that case concerned a collective right. The state court concluded:
"If the citizens have these arms in their hands, they are prepared in the best possible manner to repel any encroachments upon their rights by those in authority. They need not, for such a purpose, the use of those weapons which are usually employed in private broils, and which are efficient only in the hands of the robber and the assassin. These weapons would be useless in war. They could not be employed advantageously in the common defence of the citizens. The right to keep and bear them is not, therefore, secured by the constitution."
"The legislature, therefore, have a right to prohibit the wearing or keeping weapons dangerous to the peace and safety of the citizens, and which are not usual in civilized warfare, or would not contribute to the common defence."