Fradi, the United States is a relatively young country with a very specific history. The wild frontier mentality when nobody can rely on the authority and must defend himself is pretty much alive. Having armed population sure may look crazy to non-American considering so many nutcases, but this is the price Americans are willing to pay for the presumed ability to defend themselves notwithstanding it is real or only imaginable
Canada has a similar frontier mentality, no? Especially out West.
And werent gun laws pretty loose in Canada until recent decades?
You honestly think you can defend yourselves against government by owning guns, that is laughable and is not real.
Right now your country is so divided it is not government you need to worry about but each other and everyone being armed is a real scary situation.
Fradi - you are correct that the ability of American citizens to use firearms to resist government tyranny is far less applicable in the 21st century**
But consider this - the US had MUCH less restrictive gun laws for all its history. until the 1980s, even automatic weapons were legal and more states allowed you to carry without a license!
The mass shooting and violent crime epidemic of the last several decades is downstream of other factors (lack of social cohesion, modern degeneracy, demographic issues that cant be freely talked about).
Perhaps waving a magic wand and making guns disappear would make it safer...but that cant happen and since theres already so many guns, its only fair e we let new prospective gun owners buy them.
**A caveat to this is during Covid, americans being well armed made blue state governments and law enforcement less willing to enforce lockdowns and certain mandates. having a wrll armed population preemptively stopped the Covid tyranny you had in Canada where people lost bank accounts for protesting the mandates and stuff.