I keep hearing "well-regulated militia" as a precondition to gun ownership.

[jmg257]

31. A little tricky due to the timing, but not hard to figure out...

Articles Of Confederation: 1781 - 1789

"..but every State shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutered, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of filed pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage"

Constitution: Ratified 1788/89
"The Congress shall have Power...
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;"


What would become the 2nd amendment was authored June-Sept 1789, ratified in 1791.
So it seems the Constitution lists the federal regulations concerning the Militia at that time; at least until the Militia Acts of 1792, when exactly how the Militias would be "well-regulated", i.e. what "organizing, arming, and disciplining" the Militias would actually entail.