To begin with, D.C. has seemingly fallen into the trap of presentism, evidently fantasizing America's 18th and 19th century pioneers reaching for their cell phones to dial 911 when vandals invaded their properties.
Next, the "bad news" for pro-gun rights people. The USSC decided in Barron v. Baltimore, 1833, a state land grab case claiming 5th A. protections, that unless explicitly stated, the federal Constitution's general restraints on government power applied only to the federal government, not to the states. So the 2nd A.'s government restraint that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed was arguably a restraint only on the federal government, not the states. The states had seemingly reserved the power to infringe on gun rights for themselves even if they forbade the federal government from doing so.
Also, note that in the time between Barron v. Baltimore and the Civil War that word about the scope of the federal Constitution was evidently not getting around. This is reflected by the fact that some federal legislators at the time of the making of the post Civil War 14th A. thought that the federal BoR had always applied to the states as well, Sec. 1 of the 14th A. being a waste of Bingham's time.
Now for the good news for pro-gun rights people. Regardless what the scope and purpose of the Founders was for the 2nd A., the makers of the 14th A. essentially redefined the scope and purpose of the 2nd A., seemingly inadvertently.
More specifically, John Bingham, the main author of Sec. 1 of the 14th A., included the 2nd A. when he read the first eight amendments as examples of constitutional statutes containing privileges and immunities that the 14th A. applied to the states. (Bingham had expressed dismay that the USSC had decided in Barron v. Baltimore that the BoR didn't apply to the states as well.)
See the 2nd A. in the middle column of the following page from the Congressional Globe, a precursor to the Congressional Record. This is one of Bingham's discussions about the scope and purpose of the 14th A. after that amendment had been ratified.
http://tinyurl.com/y3ne4nSo given Bingham's inclusion of the 2nd A. when clarifying the scope and purpose of the 14th A. for his colleagues, there is no doubt in my mind that the 2nd and 14th Amendments protect the personal right to keep and bear arms from both the federal and state governments as much as any other constitutional privilege and immunity protects other personal rights.
So remember to get your guns out whenever you hear a discussion of the 2nd A. where the 14th A. is not also mentioned.
As a side note concerning Bingham's inclusion of the 2nd A. when clarifying the 14th A., consider the following words of Jefferson.
"The true key for the construction of everything doubtful in a law is the intention of the law-makers. This is most safely gathered from the words, but may be sought also in extraneous circumstances provided they do not contradict the express words of the law." --Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 1808. ME 12:59
Laurence Tribe and Alan Dershowitz, no paleoconservatives they, have both addressed the issue and come to the same conclusion, viz., that 14A binds 2A to the States, and that the 2nd does indeed confer an individual right by its own terms, but absolutely indestructibly when considered further in the light of the 14th.
To arrive at this finding, the Court will have to overturn Presser vs. Illinois, the foundation of modern gun-control laws, and with it the despised 1939 Miller decision.
The Administration brief in the D.C. case, as in its pleading in Emerson previously, attempts to preserve all federal firearms laws in the teeth of their unconstitutionality. The Administration asks SCOTUS on the one hand to find an individual right, and on the other to proceed as if they were not dealing with a right at all.
“Next, the “bad news” for pro-gun rights people. The USSC decided in Barron v. Baltimore, 1833, a state land grab case claiming 5th A. protections, that unless explicitly stated, the federal Constitution’s general restraints on government power applied only to the federal government, not to the states. So the 2nd A.’s government restraint that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed was arguably a restraint only on the federal government, not the states. The states had seemingly reserved the power to infringe on gun rights for themselves even if they forbade the federal government from doing so.”
Doesn’t every state Constitution accept the fed constitution as governing law so the 2nd A still works?
Thanks for the comments & link.