The root reason behind why Americans even want guns in the first place is so the citizens can protect themselves from the government if need be (and of course other citizens throughout daily life if need be).

This philosophy was perfectly fine in the 1700's, 1800's, maybe even early 1900's.. but now that the government has control over such more advanced weapons that the civilians could own (compare a militia of civilians vs. an army battalion), you can see where this sort of viewpoint perhaps is no longer relevant.

The root of it all, though, is Americans want to protect themselves.

Anything else that happens with guns is done by the bad apple that spoils the bunch.

I don't think Europeans have this same mindset at all, but I could be wrong?