My statement was: "you cannot defend yourself as well without a gun" which is true.

That's very true, my problem is its alot harder to defend yourself when the other person has a gun...

You have the right to self defense, and that requires tools to be effective. If you give up tools, you cannot defend yourself as well, thus you are compromising one of your freedoms.

I would argue that i am far freer without an armed populace...

Although i can see your basic point that if your denied anythingyou are less free, but that just gets silly if you think about it... one country could be freer than another because it allows each and every resident to have thier own arsenal of missles (now thats what you need to take down a goverment!)