What was it the guy said - "When do we get to use our guns?"

No doubt the Founding Fathers knew what they meant by the 2nd A., and maybe everybody else did at the time - but damned if I've ever been able to figure out what it's supposed to mean ..... I can't help suspecting that the ambiguous wording is intentional; that it actually meant something like, "Okay, your slave patrols can be armed to the teeth, and we won't interfere."