We seem to keep relearning the same lesson, most lately in Sweden and Germany: making self-protection a function exclusively of the state means that the state can withhold that protection whenever it considers it has a priority higher than the safety of the citizens. Or a portion of the citizens, a specific class: non-party members, racial groups, religious groups. This is not speculation or political theory, we have seen brutal examples of all of these within the last century and some at the present day.
In this sense, giving up firearms and ceding protection to the state means giving up one's individual identity. And the state knows it.