The militia refers to the people and people can form militias as well. Hence, they would be well-regulated militias or rather self-regulated militias. Even if someone could prove to me that banning firearms (or even restricting them) reduced violent crime, improved safety, and saved lives I would still be against it because I do not believe in trading freedom for security. I believe very strongly in the rights of individuals to pursue life, liberty, and happiness as they see fit so long as they aren't infringing on other individuals' rights to do the same. What I do not support or agree with are concepts that individuals must suppress certain freedoms for the community. I reject concepts such as "individuals must work for the good of the community," "community rights," and "what is good for the community is good for the individual."
Freedom has never been nor is nor ever will be about comfort or security. In fact, it is not comfortable or secure at all which is why many people don't really want freedom. What people want is entitlement. They believe that forcing others to pay for their livelihood is a right, that being physically safe (i.e. not shot to death) is a right, and that they have the right to be comfortable and not have to think at all times. The laws of nature say otherwise. Freedom on the other hand is the right to make a decison--any decision about one's life be it money, safety, happiness, living, spiritual faith, opinions, etc. That is why many don't want freedom because when one is required to make a decision that means that a) one has to think for themselves and b) one has to face the consequences of making the wrong decision. Either you make your own choices in life or someone else makes them for you. In the latter, you have no freedom.
One of the most basic laws in nature is the right to self defense. Every creature on this planet has the ability to do something to protect themselves. Obviously some creatures are better at it than others, stronger than others, tougher, built with better tools, etc. There is no guarantee of results but the right to self-preservation and acquiring the tools and tactics for it is inherent in nature. What makes humans special is our intellectual ability to build tools for that purpose (such as guns).
In Tucson when the massacre happened, a criminal and/or psycho used a tool (a gun) to injure and kill as many people as he could. In the crowd, there were 6 killed, about 14 injured, and dozens more who were unharmed. Every single one of them had the ability to carry and use tools to protect themselves yet failed to do so. Unless I read the news wrong, not a single person in the crowd possessed a firearm. Now I doubt if one or more had possessed guns that there would have been no deaths and no injuries but I'm very sure that the amount of those injured and killed would have been significantly less. These tragedies are terrible but it is a worse tragedy when people not only do not learn from them but go the wrong direction. I understood the concept of self-preservation as a child and so many people (especially adults) to this day don't get it. If you don't want to be injured or killed by an attacker (human or other creature) the solution is not to prevent them from acquiring weapons but to acquire them yourself. It is far easire to arm yourself with a gun than it is to ensure that every human being who may want to harm you cannot find anything to harm you with. One of these methods is an expectation of entitlement, the other one is taking personal responsibility.
You are not entitled to anything in life. Nature does not guarantee you food, housing, or healthcare. You are entitled to one thing only: the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness to the best of your ability. Freedoms cannot be given but only taken away. Nobody is going to tell me I can't possess firearms or other weapons to preserve my life in an attempt to take my life. I will not trust the government to keep me safe from harm at all times nor will I trust that nobody around me will be prevented from harming me. I trust myself to protect myself. I'm not against the concept of community organizing, people helping people, and cooperative efforts. That is what we call a society and the more we have these things the better. What I don't support is when those things trample on the rights of the individual. Period.
