From a Wiki article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lexington
Quote:
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Using detailed information provided by Loyalist spies, the grenadier companies searched the small town [Concord] for military supplies. When they arrived at Ephraim Jones's tavern, by the jail on the South Bridge road, they found the door barred shut, and Jones refused them entry. According to reports provided by local Tories, Pitcairn knew cannon had been buried on the property. Jones was ordered at gunpoint to show where the guns were buried. These turned out to be three massive pieces, firing 24-pound shot, that were much too heavy to use defensively, but very effective against fortifications, with sufficient range to bombard the city of Boston from other parts of nearby mainland.[64] The grenadiers smashed the trunnions of these three guns so they could not be mounted. They also burned some gun carriages found in the village meetinghouse, and when the fire spread to the meetinghouse itself, local resident Martha Moulton persuaded the soldiers to help in a bucket brigade to save the building.[65] Nearly a hundred barrels of flour and salted food were thrown into the millpond, as were 550 pounds of musket balls.
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From other sources I have read that they were searching for cannon, lead shot and possibly muskets. Note the cannon are inappropriate for defensive use, only for assaulting a fortress. And the articles repeatedly state the British object was to search for and confiscate
military stores.
It would hard to read the second amendment in this context and not conclude that it encompasses arms up to and including heavy cannon, or in our modern day, tanks, anti-aircraft, mines, etc. Somehow the Supreme Court has read this and determined it only means normal infantry arms and even then allows "reasonable restrictions."
Of course if the 2A protects heavy cannon for attacking fortified positions, then it obviously encompasses all other armed activities such as hunting, self-defense, and sport.
The narration of the colonial gun and beacon alrms going off hours before the British embarked from their boats seemed eerily similar to the helicopter approach scene in
Black Hawk Down