[Billthedrill]

"Well-regulated" meant to the people who wrote it, that the militia should be drilled. Militias were broadly classed as regulated, meaning organized and drilling, and unregulated, meaning essentially every male citizen between 18 and 40. Among other details, a "regulated" militia could be required to keep a stipulated amount of ammunition and a specific type of firearm to hand; an unregulated one could only be directed to show up.

I think the emphasis being on the independent clause meant that the right of the people to keep and bear arms was a necessary condition for them to form a well-regulated militia, and that infringing it would ultimately infringe on their society's ability to defend itself. Stating that the dependent clause, the "militia" clause, is the main emphasis means that the amendment does not apply to "the people" per se, but only those in the militia, which would make it truly unique in the Bill of Rights. To state either one and then hold that it only applies to sporting weapons is simply weird.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Put nicely.

[mc5cents]

To state either one and then hold that it only applies to sporting weapons is simply weird.

It is not only weird, it is absurd in the extreme.