With respect, I think that just looking at the proportions of gun ownership in the two countries is simply not sufficient to determine that there is no difference in gun culture between the United States and Canada.
Let’s start with constitutional provisions. In the United States, guns are so important in the political and popular culture, that the right to own guns is constitutionally entrenched. The Supreme Court of the United States has used that constitutional provision to strike down both gun registration and trigger locks, in Heller. Striking down the trigger locks provision is particularly significant, since it is premised on the idea that citizens have a constitutional right to own firearms for self-defence of their homes.
By contrast, in Canada, firearms are not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld extensive gun control, both registration of all firearms, and the requirement to hold a federal firearms permit: Reference re Firearms Act.
And then there’s the difference in federal laws regulating firearms. In Canada, to own a firearm, whether a long-arm or a handgun, you need to have a firearms permit, and you need to register it. All sales and transfers of firearms must be reported to the federal government.
And the laws are more strict with respect to handguns, which are classified as restricted weapons. To own a handgun, you need to get an additional permit. And even with a handgun permit, there are only three places you can lawfully possess the handgun: in your home, and at the firing range, plus in transit between the two. You cannot take the handgun anywhere else.
And even in your own home, you have to store the firearms in secure locations, such as a gun-safe, or with a trigger-lock. You can’t keep a loaded handgun or shotgun in your bedroom, or by the front door, for self-defence purposes. That certainly sounds to me to be quite different from the legal position in the US, at least as I understand it from posters on this board, and the attitude that guns are necessary for self-defence of one’s home.
Nor are there any concealed carry laws in Canada. Concealed carry is a federal offence. Nor can you carry a loaded long-gun or hand-gun in your vehicle.
All told, looking at the difference in constitutional and statutory provisions between the two countries, I would argue that the laws do demonstrate a substantial difference in attitudes towards guns, or “gun culture.”
Just as a point of curiosity - what other countries view guns so important to the political culture as to entrench gun ownership in their constitutions?
