Handguns are far more restricted in Canada than the US. You can own them if you get licensed, but you need a permit to transport them between (and only between) your home and a specific shooting range, locked in a case in your trunk separate from the ammunition. Open-carry permits are effectively impossible to get unless you're driving an armoured car. In short, anyone with a handgun in public is carrying a one-way ticket to jail if they're stopped by police. It probably discourages criminals from casually carrying (and then using) guns.
All of this I know and your argument is much more interesting, though I won't debate gun politics on this forum. I was just trying to point out the ridiculousness of the author's statement "No one owns guns. I have yet to fear for my life since I've gotten here."
There are parts of the US with very high gun ownership and very low rates of violent crime. Moving there someone could say "Everyone owns guns. I have yet to fear for my life" and it would be just as stupid a statement.
I think the OP may just have felt uncomfortable with American gun culture, not literally in fear of his life. Americans' relationships with their guns are far more intense than anything you'll find in Canada. I live in one of the most conservative parts of Canada. Plenty of people here own guns, but they aren't a way of life the way they are in parts of the US.
Having lived in both Canada and the US, I think you're mistaken. People own guns in rural parts of Canada, but it isn't common for people to own/have guns in urban parts of the country.
What level of gun ownership would you characterize as "common"? Wikipedia says that there are more than 30 guns per hundred people in Canada. Are you basing your assertions about ownership distribution on casual observation? Perhaps you are not the type of person that others mention guns around.
The author way oversimplified a complex situation. The US and Canada both have high levels of gun ownership. Canada also has significantly higher crime rates in many areas. The US still has higher violent crime rates, but that gap has been closing in recent years as the rate in the US drops.
Bullshit. Canada has extensive gun ownership.
Why they don't have as much violent gun crime is an interesting question though.