There is a mass delusion going on, combined with a democratic system that is influenced by the donations of the gun lobby.
I was working in the States once. Talked to a nice, intelligent man, chatted about how he taught his baby daughter sign language. He told me that his sister had been shot dead in her home, by her husband, who fled, leaving 3 small children with her body. This nice, intelligent man was still convinced that he was safer with 3 guns in his house than he would be without. That is the mass delusion and hard to shift attitudes.