Actually, at the time of writing of the BOR, the term "regulated" had a much broader meaning, which in modern language means something much closer to "smoothly functioning".
Remember, we were at the very beginning of the industrial revolution. Mechanisms which seem commonplace to us today, were just beginning to be seen.
Pendulum clocks had regulators, and so did steam engines. The purpose of the regulator on a steam engine was to keep it running at a constant speed.
Actually, at the time of writing of the BOR, the term 'regulated' had a much broader meaning, which in modern language means something much closer to 'smoothly functioning'.
CurlyDave
"-- A "well-regulated" militia is not a prohibited militia but one that is well drilled.
Even those who read the Second Amendment as a "collective" rather than an individual right on the basis of this preface concede--indeed their theory requires them to insist--that the power to regulate the militia that the Constitution elsewhere confers upon Congress does not include the power to forbid or prohibit the militia. --"
The power to regulate v. the power to prohibit
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