To understand the second amendment you would have to understand what the forefathers understood and intended "arms" to mean.
arms [ɑːmz]
pl n
1. (Military / Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) weapons collectively See also small arms
2. (Military) military exploits prowess in arms
3. (History / Heraldry) the official heraldic symbols of a family, state, etc., including a shield with distinctive devices, and often supports, a crest, or other insignia
bear arms
a. (Military) to carry weapons
b. (Military) to serve in the armed forces
c. (History / Heraldry) to have a coat of arms
(Military) in or under arms armed and prepared for war
(Military) lay down one's arms to stop fighting; surrender
(Military) present arms Military
a. a position of salute in which the rifle is brought up to a position vertically in line with the body, muzzle uppermost and trigger guard to the fore
b. the command for this drill
(Military) take (up) arms to prepare to fight
to arms! arm yourselves!
up in arms indignant; prepared to protest strongly
[from Old French armes, from Latin arma; see arm2]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
The second amendment as passed by the House of Representatives in 1789 read...
"A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the People, being the best security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,
but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person...."
http://www.constitution.org/bor/amd_hr.txt
Without any qualifiers, "the conscientious objector clause, "bearing arms" clearly conveys an exclusively military or fighting connotation, and thus it would seem "to bear arms" also has a military meaning. Otherwise, we are talking about different meanings associated with the same word within the same amendment. Highly improbable, especially since most of the framers were lawyers."
Resetting the Terms on the Second Amendment:...
The framers clearly intended "to bear arms" to mean arming a militia and not bastardized into meaning an individual right to self defense outside the context of a militia defending the state. The framers would have understood individual "self defense" to be a natural inalienable right that can't be taken away and therefore didn't need enumeration beyond the protection found in the ninth amendment in the Bill of Rights.