Take a shotgun and a car. I can't legally drive a Formula One car on the road, so by your definition, cars are banned. I can't cut the barrel off my shotgun and use that, so shotguns are banned? I think some of you guys are a tad confused with features of items.
In the UK, you are in control of your diving history, your medical history, your police record, having a secure gun cabinet secured to a solid wall, and the company you keep so you can supply a referee. If all those check out, the police must give you a shotgun certificate, they can't just think, "Nah, you're not having one, we don't feel like it". When the police do the last part and check your cabinet, they usually already have the certificate with them.
The government are so anal with the law, you can sue the police/government etc.. and get a fair trial.
So you are in control if you're satisfactory in the UK etc.., in America, the 2nd also arms the unsatisfactory. That's the bit that won't sink into American heads. Then the second part is, where you can take a gun, you avoid public areas, there's no need to have a gun in the high street. Take your gun to the shops and watch the police take it away and arrest you.
And that's why the US does more gun damage in a weekend than the UK can do in a full decade or more.