The burden was placed on each militia-eligible man to obtain firearms, to keep them in good working order and to bring them to militia service at such time when they were called up. In fact, Congress enacted a law in 1792 which required militiamen to have a working musket. … That law was widely ignored, but it underscored the fact that the government didn’t have the resources or ability to arm militia citizens, and so the burden fell on the [citizens].

— Political scientist Robert Spitzer says the original meaning of the phrase ‘well regulated militia’ in the Second Amendment came about because the United States government couldn’t afford to purchase guns for its armed forces.

Political scientist Robert Spitzer on the rhetoric of guns: “In the 1970s, you see the Second Amendment rhetoric escalate dramatically as an argument against stronger gun laws and to identify gun ownership with American values and historical values. You find this increasingly heavy emphasis on Second Amendment rights and Constitutional rhetoric as part of the argument against enacting stronger gun laws.”