Indeed. Sparta was, and in some circles still is, the paradigmatic collectivist state.
However it’s a bit of a stretch to say that the ochlocratic Athenians were free. Being forced to commit suicide (for instance) for doing asocial things like corrupting the youth with politically incorrect ideas (to use the modern expression) does not strike me as a mark of a free society. And this is to say nothing of the welfare state it became under Pericles.
The Pennsylvania constitution: "The right of the citizens to bear arms in defence of themselves and the State shall not be questioned."
…Except that it has been questioned, often, and usually in favor of less liberty.
North Carolina has no legal restriction on “open carry” either. Those “shall not be construed to allow concealed carry” clauses were added en masse after 1968 to lots of state constitutions.
Fear. Most people seem to act first out of fear.
So what NC does is allow local politicians and standing military, I mean “police”, to prosecute the open carrying of arms as “creating an environment of fear”.
That’s how they justify granting concealed carry licenses. Carrying openly may be constitutional, but it’s scary.