[dmz]

So what exactly is meant by the relevant text in section 8 if it does not mean what it explicitly states, to provide for the organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia?

[RKV]

Whatever it meant, the founding generation passed a law in 1792 that required militia members to provide their own weapons - including swords, bayonets, muskets, etc. Period. We used to have a naval militia (might well still exist on the law books somewhere) - might be that heavy weps were provided by the state or feds. Personal weapons, not so much. That is the legal history.