I'm on the fence here. I think if a person is a non-violent felon then yes, they should be permitted. However, then we set a precedent...what about voting? Public office? Security clearances? Professions?
So...we should be careful.
I"m just starting to read this thread and there are 25 pages.. But I may as well jump in with your post.
One of the reasons for the right to keep and bear arms, actually the number one reason, above all that militia and rebellion stuff, is to defend one's life, liberty, family, etc. In fact, standing up to oppressive government is but a subset of defending oneself. If a primary purpose of the Second Amendment was to be able to defend against government, the underlying right to keep and bear arms that the Second Amendment protects is about defending oneself.
So, it's not the right to keep and bear arms that is restricted by the ban on felons owning guns; it's the right to self-defense, to defense of family, to defense of home. It's the right of even the family of the felon to defend themselves or, taken to extreme, the right of the felon to have a family since the family may have to, or choose to, separate themselves from the felon so that they can enjoy their right of self-defense.
Nothing in the Constitution suggests that any protected right can be removed or stripped other than for treason or the right to vote - and even that requires an abstract interpretation.
If a person, having been convicted of a crime, is not to be trusted with a gun then leave them in prison. Having the restriction once they're out of prison works exactly the same way it would for any gun ban for any law-abiding citizen: only the law-abiding will follow the law and the criminals intent on harming the unarmed will have firearms.
And if you consider that far less than 50% of criminals caught illegally possessing guns are ever prosecuted for it, far less than even that if you consider federal prosecutions, then the law provides no deterrence and no protection; it only serves to empower government against the law-abiding.