You’re right, the crown wasn’t concerned with the ownership of guns per se, they acted because the townships in the colonies, especially those in new england, had begun forming and drilling militias for the first time since the French Indians wars. With the rising tensions between them and the mother country it wasn’t hard to figure out why.
Exactly correct. Before 1765 or so, Training Days were town festival days where everyone gathered to socialize and watch the men play at soldering for awhile before they went to drink in the taverns. Around 1770, they probably got a bit more serious about it, and by 1773-4, we’re talking Minute Man time.