The Redcoats were marching to seize arms and gunpowder stored in the powder house in Concord. They had already seized the Powder House in Charlestown. To be precisely clear, this was the government attempting to seize private arms. If anyone doubts the Founders’ ideas about the right to keep and bear arms they need to explain what the shooting was about at Concord and Lexington.
btw, check my profile for a pic of Capt. Parker at Lexington.
No doubt that was one of the dual goals of the lobsterback's journey out into the countryside. Thankfully the arms in Concord were well-hidden, nor were they able to find Hancock or Adams (S) in Lexington.
Were it not for Percy's relief, and Pickering's inexplicable delay in arriving on-scene, where he could have cut the British off on their retreat, the day would have been a complete rout for the British.
A fact that is emphasized at every Appleseed shooting event put on by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association.
We must not lose sight of this. Our own governments continue to do that which our Founders fought a war over.
For even more clarity I would have worded this: "... this was THEIR OWN government attempting to seize THEIR private arms."
The call to arms was not, "The British are coming", but "the Regulars are coming", meaning the regular army troops occupying Boston. It was their own army coming to disarm them.