I'm always suspicious of post-hoc cultural explanations, but I think that the argument would be that you don't trust other americans to not shoot you, but you generally trust them to work.
I live in a small town in a state where you don't even need a gun permit, guns of all kinds are very popular, and I have no fear of being shot. That may have only been a cheap side part to of your comment, but, dang.
On the other hand I’m in Texas and after passing the open carry we’ve seen a huge rise in gun violence related to road rage. The H‑E‑B grocery store near me had murder happen because someone ‘stole’ the parking of an angry person with a gun.
Wow, I would say the reverse insomuch as I don’t trust the majority of my fellow random Americans, without adequate oversight, to work a) hard and b) with detailed compliance to process and procedure. I absolutely trust the majority of my fellow random Americans to not shoot me, and I live in a state with constitutional concealed carry and a city where it’s not abnormal to see open carry.
