American gun laws — which can vary wildly from state to state — haven't always been this insane. As late as the 1980s, American gun laws were not very different from Canadian gun laws. Even the Republican Party was not always the party of unlimited gun ownership: Ronald Reagan severely restricted gun rights in California during his time as governor; George Bush senior publicly tore up his National Rifle Association (NRA) membership card after it aired a commercial inciting hatred of the FBI.
It wasn't always difficult to pass strict gun laws either.