Very well said, especially your last line--a very important point to remember.
I do question your interpretation of the 2nd Amnd. to be "the right to keep and bear military small arms". I think the way it was written using just the term "arms" with nothing defining or specifying the type of arms, the word "arms" was used as a general, all-encompassing term. There were cannon as well as muskets at the time the Bill of Rights was written, and even though it was probably expected that most individuals would not own a cannon, it wasn't forbidden to them either. As a general term, I think 'arms' applied to whatever was, or would be, state of the art weaponry, and it was left to individuals to determine what would suit their needs and wallets.
Random thoughts on the passing scene:
I can't get excited by the question of whether Senator Robert Menendez had sex with a prostitute in Central America. It is her word against his -- and when it comes to a prostitute's word against a politician's word, that is too close to call.
If an American citizen went off to join Hitler's army during World War II, would there have been any question that this alone would make it legal to kill him? Why then is there an uproar about killing an American citizen who has joined terrorist organizations that...
-- Hubert H. Humphrey, Senator, Vice President, 22 October 1959
"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials."
— George Mason, in Debates in Virginia Convention on Ratification of the Constitution, Elliot, Vol. 3, June 16, 1788
"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials."
— George Mason, in Debates in Virginia Convention on Ratification of the Constitution, Elliot, Vol. 3, June 16, 1788