Should it be different for similar games that aren’t free (gratis) then? Should I be required by law to be able to load third-party items in Call of Duty?

There needs to be different rules for products that are essential to modern life, like smartphones.

We have more rules and regulations for things like food services, airlines, banking and farming than we do for a store like GameStop or a jewelry products.

Then if you care so much about running whatever software you want on it, perhaps you should have bought a phone that lets you do that instead?

I'm not personally in favor of walled gardens myself, but everyone who bought an iPhone knew that's what they were getting and did it anyway.

"everyone who bought an iPhone knew that's what they were getting and did it anyway" is an incredibly strong assertion you're not making an effort to support here. Are you seriously claiming that every owner of an iPhone understood the nuances of Apple's app store policies before they bought the phone?

Everyone in the world? No, clearly, but I doubt very many of them care about being able to use other stores on their phone anyway. The people here making the argument for forcing Apple's hand? Yes.

People pay to own their tractors, but yet they can't repair them.

Yes, and that's not right.