Gun Control & RKBA

(this is all my opinion borne out of having shot multiple flintlock muskets over the years of 18th century design).

Military muskets (Brown Bess/Charleville) were heavy (~10.5 pounds), poorly balanced (very muzzle heavy even without the affixed bayonet) and inaccurate due to the musket balls being undersized compared the bore which made for faster reloading and less fouling) but their construction made them more rugged.

A colonial civilian, on the other hand, had what was referred to as a "fowler". It was a tad longer, lighter weight (~8 pounds), better balanced and more accurate due to tighter tolerance between the size of the ball and the size of the bore. It's downsides, it was slower to reload (harder to ram the ball home) and not nearly as rugged as its military counterpart.

So the argument can be made the civilian weapons of the War of Independence era were "better" than their military counterparts.