Yes, that might be why they wrote that Second Amendment and talked about establishing militia. I'm not really sure how that's supposed to be a counter-argument to what I said... on the contrary, it looks like you're agreeing with me. Those who want to own guns nowadays don't generally use "we need to use them in our militia against the government" as a reason, largely because doing so would get them into trouble with the FBI, and for good reason. People's motivations nowadays are mostly about self-defense against criminals, or hunting, things that aren't mentioned at all in the Second Amendment. While what IS mentioned in the Second Amendment - "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State" - is in fact completely obsolete.

You misunderstand. Which is odd, because I figured I'd been clear enough, perhaps even to the point of offensive bluntness. The contradiction I was talking about had little to do with the strengthening or weakening of the central government in se. It's about how you have to be consistent in your approach to the Constitution. If the Second Amendment can be reinterpreted in ways that have nothing to do with the original Amendment anymore, the same goes for the other Amendments. There seem to be many Americans who prefer interpreting the Constitution narrowly and who frown on interpretations that go in directions the authors obviously never intended, but somehow they make that huge exception for the Second Amendment because that's convenient for them.

If the Supreme Court ever starts interpreting the Second Amendment the way it's actually written, it would have to strike down the bans on civilians owning heavy weapons suitable for actual use against armed forces, which nobody seriously wants and most people would oppose - rightly so, of course. There is nothing wrong with taking a pro-gun stance while maintaining common sense and forbidding civilians from owning that kind of weapons. But just stop trying to pretend that that stance is somehow written in the Constitution and hence sacred, because it's not.