How have judicial and law enforcement officers generally interpreted the "right to bear arms"?

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Since the late 1930s federal judicial and law enforcement officials generally held that the right exists mainly in the context of the maintenance of a state militia, but in 2002 the Justice Dept., under Attorney General John Ashcroft, indicated that it interpreted the amendment as more broadly supporting the rights of individuals to possess and bear firearms. Such an interpretation was upheld by a 2008 Supreme Court decision that nonetheless did not challenge the government's right to place some limitations on the ownership and possession of firearms.