OK here goes...
Source: http://mark.reid.name/blog/gun-deaths-vs-gun-ownership.html - some good number-crunching of wikipedia stats.
Yes, higher gun ownership means higher deaths per capita by gun. However, FAR higher correlation can be drawn between gun homicide and lawlessness.
Two extreme examples:
- Switzerland has around 45 guns per 100 people, but one of the lowest crime rates on the planet. The guns are taken home after military service, ammo is tightly controlled, spot checks are carried out and there is practically no black market.
- Mexico has average gun ownership, but a huge black market and high lawlessness in many areas. Settling disputes by bullet is pretty common.
The USA is a bit of an edge case in most statistics. High gun ownership, relatively lawful, but what sets it apart is the fear of violent crime is disproportionate to the crime rate.
Fear breeds reactionary opinion, which is why you have crazy at both ends of the spectrum. The sort of crazy that will demand the right for their 5 year old son to handle live firearms "out of principle", versus the sort of crazy that fires people for "having favorable opinions about firearms".
To put this into perspective, we just don't have this sort of debate in Europe. We don't fear being shot at, so we don't carry guns. Shootings are uncommon in most places. Legislators understand that handling firearms is dangerous, and do their best to ensure that normal citizens are protected from crazy-with-a-gun - primarily by not letting them have one.
tl;dr: You can't gun if you don't have a gun; low crime rate means fewer shootings; America is weird; Europeans don't care.
TRWTF is crazy people, at both ends of the gun-crazy spectrum.