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The exact text is “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The Founders were pretty sharp, but this is very unclear and poorly written, most likely on purpose. Since it could be interpreted in different ways, they could get more people to agree with it and sign on. So, they planted the seed of ambiguity that confounds us to this day. Politics: why fix things today when you can pass the problem on to people tomorrow?
Those in favor of gun control will say, “It explicitly calls for regulation. WELL regulated in fact. And it’s talking about the context of a militia, not everyday jamokes walking the streets.” And that would be true.
Those against will say, “But militias are comprised of everyday jamokes, so how can you have a militia if the jamokes can’t have guns? Besides, it says that militias should be well regulated, not the jamokes. The only thing it says about the jamokes is that their right to bear arms shall not be infringed.” And that would be true too.
A rational person would say, “This is an anachronism. We no longer have militias because we are no longer a rag tag frontier rural nation surrounded by enemies. We don’t need militias to protect us from attack. We have the world’s most fearsome military, with 10x the funding of the rest of the world combined. We have a national guard, FBI, state and local police forces, and county sheriffs to protect our homes and farms and businesses from crazy loons. And, the founders’ mentality revolved around flintlock muskets that fired at a rate of 3 shots per minute, not 21st century assault weapons – AR-15s fire at 3-5 shots per second. In fact, applying 18th century wording to 21st century reality would mean that everyone shoud be able to own nuclear weapons. The sensible thing would be to not get tied up about what guys in wigs were thinking about 225 years ago, but to have an amendment that speaks to the concerns of the here and now.” And that would be the most true of all. But it will never, ever happen.