I’ve always thought that the phrase “well regulated” meant “efficient/proficient/skilled/accurate.” Re: “Regulator clocks.”
Regulated” by your interpretation has the meaning of “...bound by law/required.”
In context, using my understanding of the word regulated, the law reads “a skilled militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,....”
Try inserting your definition into the 2nd Amendment.....
Note I resist any interpretation of words that believes that the 2nd Amendment refers to any of limitation or requirement on the People.
Regulated” by your interpretation has the meaning of “...bound by law/required.”
No. By my definition, it means it be kept in good working order, with maintained functionality. The referenced laws were what made it mandatory.
On a related note, early court rulings also said that substantial state restrictions on firearms were unconstitutional on the grounds that the states and the union could not deprive each other of a functional militia. I haven’t seen where that was overturned...just ignored.