The Importance of the Preparatory Clause in the Second Amendment

The entire reason the right exists, according to the amendment, is gone. That's not irrelevant to the interpretation of the amendment. He knows that he can't bring the preparatory clause into the analysis too much. And so let's get to the next part of his argument, which is what's a well-regulated militia. The militia at the time of the Second Amendment was not like just this conceptual thing that was theoretically comprised of able-bodied men.