I've recently heard the claim that the second amendment was reinterpreted to embody the right of individuals to own firearms in the 1970s/80s and for the period beforehand the second amendment was widely interpreted to mean that militias, not individuals, have the right to procure arms.

by ZeroRacer

To what extent is this statement true?

As a bonus, how have American attitudes towards the second amendment changed during the last 4 decades in the U.S. Historical timeline?

Georgy_K_Zhukov

It only looks at part of your question, as it doesn't address attitudes that much, but this old response I wrote does cover some of the evolution of 2nd Amendment jurisprudence.