Japan has some of the toughest gun laws in the world but they can own centerfire semi-auto rifles (no high cap magazines though ) and semi-auto shotguns but no pistols. Their vetting is extreme including 3 interviews with the police, interviews with your co-workers and neighbors, mandatory safety training and knowledge of all gun laws, all guns are registered, mandatory safe storage in an approved safe and surprise inspections of your guns as to proper storage to avoid children being killed with guns not locked up. And their mass murder, homicide rate, and criminal use of firearms is one of the lowest in the world.
European gun laws differ from State to State but they have been tightening up on their gun laws as well yet they own a ton of guns in Europe. All of the States have mandatory registration, background checks, safe storage laws, mandatory safety training and knowledge of their gun laws and most restrict or in some cases outlaw high cap military style weapons. Most states outlaw concealed carry or open carry as self defense with a firearm is usually prohibited. They all have way less homicide rates, less mass firearms murder rates, and less robbery with firearms mostly because there is very little unregistered weapons for sale on the black market. I have been to Europe and never once encountered anyone trying to sell me an unregistered weapon, even when I asked if such weapons were available (they were not to me) When there is a very rare mass murder it's usually sponsored by an enemy Middle East State which in reality is an act of war not subject to local gun laws.
I took a survey at our gun club (1,000 members plus) where the people know me and spoke freely about gun control and you would be surprised at the diversity of opinion on whether we had enough gun control or too much gun control. We at our club have people who vote both Republican, Democrat and Independent,
I have found that Chat rooms and gun websites do not reflect the overall public opinion on gun control both from gun owners themselves or from non-gun owners. It has been estimated that 3% of the population owns 90% of the firearms in the U.S. and those are not good odds if a public panics after a series of back to back of mass murders that for example took place several years ago only hours apart, one in Texas followed by one in Ohio. The Republicans led by MItch McConnell who at the time were in control spoke seriously of passing some severe gun control but backed out after the mass panicked public calmed down but they came very close to doing it.
I have found out that the present Supreme Court is not as pro-gun as we all thought either and have last week ignored the Scalia ruling and refused to hear a case where New York and Connecticut banned assault rifles. So claiming we all have 2A rights does not mean much when the Conservative Supreme Court ignores the Constitution and prior pro 2A rulings at their discretion. I remember reading in one of the Gun Magazines decades ago the statement that said "The Constitution does not mean what it says it means, it means what the Supreme Court says it means on any particular day or hour of the week". Unfortunately that is the disturbing truth not just on guns but on the entire rest of our freedoms as well.
I think too that many, many, people who log on to gun websites remain silent as to how they really feel about gun control because most of those sites will ban people who exercise their right to free speech namely the 1st Amendment so they remain silent giving those against all gun control the false belief that everyone on their website is of their political beliefs. Banning free speech on a forum results in people living in a self-contained bubble completely devoid of the reality all around them throughout the country they live in. They often even ignore pro-gun people who have written books on the consequences of using a gun which results in death of another person. I think everyone should read books on the subject like the excellent books by Massad Ayoob such as
In the Gravest Extreme: The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection.