“Well who was dong the shooting and screaming about the forth amendment.”
There was no ‘fourth amendment’ at that time, so I don’t know who you’re talking about. The British fired shots to stop Revere, et. al. And in the other report there were shots fired. Revere was also a bell maker (as a profession) so he very likely may have had a bell but there is no mention of it - only that there were ringing of the bells in the towns.
And as Palin mentioned - they were ‘after our guns’ - there were armories in both Lexington and Concord, iirc - one of them perhaps - don’t quote... which is why the British were headed that way.
That was part of the test///????? Read the transcript.
You are exactly right. The British were out to capture Sam Adams and Patrick Henry, whom they had heard were at a local inn; and they were after the powder stores. Individual families kept a couple of muskets-—perhaps more-—but usually only enough powder for a horn or two per weapon. When they needed more, they got it at the local powder storehouse. Other towns had community-owned cannons, the point being that as a whole, the entirety of British America had almost as much ground firepower (infantry and cannon) as did the British regulars. Of course, the colonists couldn’t match the British in warships and were deficient in cavalry, but infantry and artillery were already the dominant forces on the battlefield.