Is Gun Ownership a Right?

[stanc]

I do often wonder why the FF's decided that only one single amendment needed an explanatory preface....

That's the key issue. If the Second Amendment were not meant to protect the supply of weapons for the militia, why does it have the prefatory clause?

If it was intended to protect the use of guns for sporting and other civilian use, it seems like it would simply say, "The right to keep and bear firearms shall not be infringed."

Instead it specifies "Arms" (which in the context of the time meant military weapons), and links their possession and use to "well regulated" organized militia units.