There's more than a single factor in play Dave. You're point about comparative gun-deaths is correct, I've made the exact same point myself.

But the huge difference between the UK and the US isn't just that we have far more stringent, and firmly applied gun-laws, it's about mindset. From the moment they're born, Americans have it rammed into their brains that the 'Mad-Dog Killers' and the 'Bad Guys' are coming for them, and that they need guns to protect themselves. Add that to their lax gun-laws and the easy availability of firearms, and you get what they've got.

Here in the UK, as Acorn says, gun-licensing is very strictly controlled, and the use to which a gun can be put is very limited. So there are comparatively few guns held by civilians, compared to the US.

And the mindset of having a gun to protect ourselves against 'The Bad Guys' coming into our homes to steal our laptops and Blu-Ray players isn't there because, over here, the 'Bad Guys' know the chances of being faced by a terrified householder waving a gun at them are virtually nil, and that our police don't carry guns. Therefore, the 'Bad Guys' themselves don't go armed - they don't need to! Add to that the fact that carrying any kind of weapon in the commission of a crime carries an automatic doubling of the sentence for the crime, and you have a very good deterrent.

Americans 'need' guns because many (most?) people have guns. They're brainwashed by the culture of guns. They are made fearful by their own culture, and by the propaganda of the NRA and its cohorts and adherents. There's a lot of money in guns, and that's how the NRA like it.

It's not the fault of the average American - he/she doesn't know any better, and they can't even begin to conceive of a place where ordinary decent people neither want, nor 'need' guns.