I found an interesting line in the Constitution

[happyslug]

79. This is the result of the Experience of the American Revolution

When Von Steuben entered in Service of George Washington he wrote the "Blue Book" which was how the US Army units were to be organized to fight. As a general rule, in armies of the time period, books like the "Blue Book" were classified Top Secret if not higher. The reason for this is given the nature of the weapons, while the main weapons that caused most injuries were cannon and musket fire, the Bayonet was still viewed as the weapon that won battles, The Bayonet would retain that position till the invention of the Rifle Musket (and the Minie ball) in 1848 (and that was due to the adoption of the Percussion firing system, invented in 1806, adopted by the British Military in 1830, US Army in 1842).

The key to a bayonet charge was to hit the other side in flank of a unit. Units would fall back on their centers, thus if you hit two units in each other flanks both would retreat toward their own centers and open a gap between the unit, that the attacking units could exploit. Thus in defense, units lined up in such a way as to appear to be one continuous line. Thus any charge would not know where two units meet and thus the attacking unit did not know if it was attacking one unit at its center, which would force the unit backward but united, or between two units, so that the flanks would retreat toward each unit's center.

Thus army units were given four flags, two at the center and one on each flank. The flanks of each unit would be covered by two flags, one from each unit. Thus when the enemy looked at your line, all they saw was a serious of two flags with the men behind the flags (one flag from each unit on that unit's flank, and then two in the center that the men were taught to rally around.

What flag went where was important, thus classified. The men of the unit were taught the importance of each flag, but only as far as needed (i.e. the unit's flag was the one the men were taught to rally around, the other three flags were known but ignored by most of the men as unimportant).

Given the above, in all armies the equivalent of the "Blue Book" was classified as to be known only to regimental commanders and to be destroyed if the unit was over run, This was the classification Von Steuben wanted his "Blue Book" to be given by George Washington. George Washington decided instead to publish it, so that militia commanders could buy copies and form they militia units along the same line.

This "Tradition" was known to the authors of the Constitution AND the First Congress which wrote the Bill of Rights. It was also known that Militia could have weapons other then what the US Army had, but it was preferred that the Militia have the same weapon due to the ease that makes in re-suppling the army in the field. In fact the US Army during the Revolution switched from .75 caliber Brown Bess muskets, Colonial American had used when the British was the main source of Weapons used by American forces, to .69 caliber muskets when France became the main source of US weapons. Both were still in use when Congress passed the 1792 and the 1795 Militia act . In Both acts Congress ruled every "free male" was in the Militia and had to have a .69 caliber musket (And exception was made for Rifleman, but Rifle units had to be supported by at least two musket equipped regular infantry units, another rule issued by George Washington based on experience during the Revolution).

Now, in the recent opinions of the Supreme Court the above was ignored by both the majority and the dissent. One reason was none of the above were the result of any LEGAL decisions by the Courts. In my opinion both Sides were uncomfortable with the idea that the understanding of how the Militia was to be formed and organized and gone through a radical rewrite during the Revolution and that George Washington's handling of the "Blue Book" was part of that change.

On top of the above change, the Court also did not want to accept that how the Militia was organized north and south of the Mason Dixon line were radically different for over 15o years by the time of the Revolution. In the North, the Militia was as good as any regular Army unit and that had been the tradition since the 1600s, thus military function was its most important function (Strengthen by the fact the French were in Canada till 1763).

In the South the Militia's main job was NOT to perform military operations but its related function as the "Sheriff;s Patrol". The main function of the Sheriff's Patrol was to prevent slave revolts by spending a night a month patrolling an assigned area (often a road intersection), with free range to due as they saw fit to any non-white (This included killing any non-white). Thus when you read about the "Useless Militia" during the Revolution it is always in reference to the Southern Militia for when you compare it to the Northern Militia it was "useless".

In many ways the Constitutional Convention wanted to expand Northern Militia standards to the South, but the South resisted the move, so instead it was agreed to leave the First Congress be given the option on how the militia was to be formed. The First Congress did the same, wrote how the militia was to be formed, but then told the states to do so. This was the Militia Act of 1792. The Militia Act of 1792 was the law till 1903 when the present Federal Act came into play. The present act divided the Militia into two groups, the members of the National Guard and the "Reserve Militia". All males between the ages of 18 and 45 are in one or the other. The reason for this was to provide legal cover for the National Guard (Some question if the National Guard was constitutional before 1903). The rest of the Militia was to be organized as and when needed as per Hamilton in the Federalist papers.

On the other hand, during the ratification of the US Constitution, the opposition to the US Constitution made a big deal about the centralization of the Militia with the Federal Government. This was a BIG deal in Pennsylvania, the last colony to organize its militia, Pennsylvania only did it in 1758. This was AFTER four year of fighting on the frontier after Braddock's defeat in 1754. During that four year period, the Pennsylvanian Frontier was undefended. The Quakers that controlled the PA General Assembly refused to form up the Militia. To address this problem Ben Franklin told the people on the frontier to form their own Militia units. Thus when opponents to the US Constitution brought up the Militia clause, it made a big effect in Pennsylvania. In many ways the Second amendment was adopted to address the fear of what would happen if the Federal Government did NOT form up the Militia. i.e. if the Federal Government did what it in 1903, those parts of the Militia NOT in the National Guard, can be formed as the State sees fit, or if the state does NOT form up the Militia , the people themselves can.

On the other hand, the authors of the Second Amendment also did NOT want the Second Amendment to interfere with how the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT would form up the Militia. Thus the wording of the Second, to maintain maximum right of the Federal Government to form up the Militia but permit the states and the people to form up the Militia but only if the Federal Government does not.

The above would indicate that the Reserve Militia could be restricted to a certain type of weapon, but it would have to be compatible with what is used by the Regular US Army. i.e the M16. On the other hand an argument can be made for another position, see the following:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=370038