My guiding philosophy in matters of sovereignty, tyranny, and freedom is simple: the entity that sets the consequences for the actions of others and deals out the punishment accordingly is the one that is in charge. In a free country, citizens are not merely "permitted" to keep and bear arms--it is their natural right and it cannot be taken away because they are in charge. If the government, for no good reason but their own preservation, successfully takes this right away from the people, then they are the tyrants and the people are not citizens but subjects. If instead this right is sacrificed in order to (futilely) prevent criminals from stealing arms and using them against people, then the country is not free because the people are the subjects of their own criminal element, with the criminals themselves being the tyrants and the government their accomplices who are capable of doing far worse. Only when the people can set the consequences for and deal punishment out to both the government and criminals are the people truly citizens of a free country. Everything else--democracy, republic, monarchy, etc.--are just empty words with no real force of meaning.
The Founding Fathers of the United States knew this and codified it in both the Bill of Rights and the Great Seal of the United States. What good is being able to speak freely, as the First Amendment spells out, to decide on matters in earnest without the means to both defend this right and act upon it when necessary, which is spelled out in the Second Amendment? It's no accident that these are the very first, most fundamentals rights "granted" (not really--more of an explicit limit set on the power of the State). We can also read the intent of the Founding Fathers in their symbolism in the Great Seal, where an eagle--the ultimate symbol of freedom--holds an olive branch in its right claw and arrows in its left claw. Peace and peaceful discourse should always take precedence over war, but when the first is threatened it is only the second that can help restore and preserve it, as well as freedom in general.
I'm not trying to speak in absolutes here and say that we can never make concessions (government itself and its laws are all necessary concessions to start with), but when doing so always keep in mind what defines a free country and who rules over it. So is the United States really a free country? Well, it started out as one and we're still kind of hanging in there today, partially--the fight isn't over yet but so many of its citizens are ignorant and weak, and just want the government to protect them from themselves as much as anything else.
That is why the Second Amendment is always under siege--it may be their natural right, but many people are scared of it and want to be rid of it. As for other countries, some have benevolent governments, for the moment, but few are truly free and probably never were, otherwise they would not have lost their natural rights so easily.