1/2: It is my personal opinion that the sheer colossal volume of not really handgun but of high-powered and magazine- and even belt-fed assault rifles and heavy weapons in the United States is indicative of how deeply psychologically insecure and frightened of not only the government but one another several million Americans are. This number includes a fuck-ton of members of local, state, and federal law-enforcement and sadly no small amount of members of the United States Army.
3/2: I am myself a gun owner and have been around guns and using them recreationally since I was five years old. (I am currently 52.) I have been acquainted with, friends with, and related to cops, active-duty military enlisteds and officers, and military veterans all of my life. My paternal grandfather was a federally-licensed arms dealer for thirty years... and a magistrate and a circuit court judge. I am not remotely a stranger to guns, gun culture, wider culture, America, or humans.
2/2: This is not an unconsidered or even a recent opinion but its based on decades of direct experience and direct observation, including discussions with the people I'm including in the aforementioned group of insecure, weak, frightened people, the people who live and interact with them on the daily, and a wide variety of studies as well as anthologies verified and often corroborate public anecdotes.