Im pretty sure ive seen self defence courses that teach and enable you to protect yourself against someone twice your size, even when attacked by surprise. There are other options than guns..
Sure, prepare for all possible contingencies. Prepare for those situations in which you'd face an opponent armed with a gun. Prepare for those situations in which you'd face an opponent when neither of you has a gun.
As a side note, I think the belief that life is more important than freedom is a recurring opinion that most countries in the world don't support at the international level. When attacked or threatened by another country not bent on genocide but simple domination, why does the threatened country fight back? To preserve its way of life and its freedoms. Not to save life. I think the same principle operates when it comes to gun ownership in America. We don't want to be dominated by a bunch of Nazis who strip sensible adults of their right to bear arms and then slowly tighten its authoritarian grip on the People. I think we'd rather fight back. Every nation knows that, so most politicians want to take the guns away from the masses so they can't fight back. And common criminals aren't the only criminals in the world as history has proven time and time again. One's political elite can be criminals as well. And we need to guard ourselves against every sort of criminal that would abuse us.