An excellent historical analysis of the Second Amendment. The author's conclusions:

[T]he evidence presented here is sufficient to support three historical conclusions: An interpretation of the Second Amendment as securing in part an individual right to keep arms was contemporaneous with the amendment's framing. That interpretation was recognized as authoritative early in the nineteenth century. Finally, the early American proponents of that interpretation transcended region, partisan affiliation, and any reasonable measure of plebeian consciousness. Lawyers, backwoodsmen, Federalists, and Democrats, they believed...that they had a right to keep arms.

Full article here.