I think you'll find that it's mostly Americans who jump to guns first. There are dozens of countries Americans look at and say: "Gee, those people should have guns", but the locals disagree.

Russia? You can't buy a hunting rifle unless you've owned a smoothbore gun for 5 years without an incident. Fully automatic guns? Forbidden. Pistols and revolvers? Heavily restricted. If you own one you have to keep it in a gun safe which is inspected by the Russian version of ATF. And you need to pass an exam and a psychological check to own one.

I don't know where you got the idea that Russians have a similar fetish for guns as Americans.

As for Afghanistan, is that really a country you want to compare the US to? A country that has been at war more often than it has been at peace?

Almost nobody in the world sees it the same as the US. Not in Africa. Not in South America. Not in Europe. Definitely not in Asia. And not even in other countries in North America.