Tenn Gentle wrote:
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Correct, but that militia became the National Guard in 1903.
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I disagree. Where is this written? The National Guard become part of the reserve military forces for the federal govt. and could be used by the states when not in the service of the federal govt. Thus, in a hypothetical situation, the national guard could not be used by the states to battle a federal government which had gone out of control and become tyrannical. The Feds own the Guard. The states would be left with nothing but their armed citizens to defend themselves. Also, the feds may be using the guard in foreign battles, again leaving the states with no recourse but to call forth their armed citizens if required.
This is not taking into account the fact that many military personell and members of the guard would defect or refuse to obey orders which they believed were in violation of their oath to faithfully defend the US Constitution. I don't believe you can just wave a magic wand and say that in 1903, the national guard became the citizen militia referred to in the Second Amendment.
Outside of that, it's a moot point as to whether individuals retain the right spelled out in the second amendment. Militia or no militia, individuals still own the right, and the USSC has concurred. The Ninth US Circuit Court has stated that the Second Amendment also applies to the states and local governments. We are steadily making progress on this issue.