I am Norwegian. We have strict gun control. We also have a large trust in our government. Europeans have (until recently) largely had a high level of trust in our government and our society. Thats the major difference. Take away that trust and you will see similar attitudes.

At the same time we have a strict gun control legislation, I also grew up learning to shoot rifles in school. We also dont have had (until recently) a issue with illegal/black market weaponry. So the argument that we need weapons to defend ourselves privately does not exist yet in the mainstream discourse.

Historically the guns were used to kill other europeans through organized national warfare not used for self defence to protect individual wealth and property.

My uncle had a G3 service rifle in his attic just in case the russians came across the border. Currently my HK416 is locked in a depot, but that could be changed quickly if necessary. The best way to defend our homeland was through organized militias and national defence policy.

We are watching our societies get split along demografic and societal faultlines with the introduction of free market and free travel, weaponization of police, large scale smuggling of people, weapons, money and drugs and deterioration of internal trust.

I believe the historic sentiment of national defence is going to skew towards a more "american" view aka self defence.