Canada has lots of guns - I own several. The vast majority here don't realy think in terms of self defense or home defense. You could use it as a legal defense in the case of a home invasion but it's not at all common.
We have 137 gun deaths on the books this year, Britain has 18. We are a 10th of the US population so even at 1,370 gun deaths Canadians would be VERY alarmed and would surely do something about it. But we already have - we don't have a gun culture. Hand guns have beeen restricted since 1938 - you can own one but it's use is very tightly controlled. It's possible to get a CC permit but you need a REALLY good reason to have one.

We had a gun registry until just recently. It came about inthe 80's when a but job killed a bunch of girls in Montreal. The Liberal government at the time said it would cost about 1 million to set up and run - the costs were much higher than that. Since I hunt I had to register my stuff. Now, I still need a license to buy ammo but I guess I can buy a used shotgun or rifle if I want to. I still have to keep my stuff locked up though. No loaded guns laying around the house or under my car seat. Anyone caught with a loaded gun walking around town would be arrested on the spot.

We have accepted this small loss of freedom to have a safer society. We know that any average Joe isn't walking around in the crowd with a loaded gun. We also know that the relatively low number of hand guns out there are owned by collectors, sporting shooters and of course criminals. The police concentrate on them and leave oridinary people alone.

Give someone a gun and an oppertunity to use it and they just might. I see some advocating for some sort of control of a situation that's already out of control. I see others saying that the anwser to guns is to have more guns.

Our system isn't perfect but it at least allows almost everyone to not have to live in constant fear. The COTUS was written when people were still fighting Indians. The weapon of the day was a muzzle loaded musket or long rifle. Bayonets and swords were the weapons of choice up close. The need for State millitias were real and self defense was too.

Fast forward to today. The millitary or the police could out power anything you could throw at them. We have things today that the founding fathers never would have imagined or believed possible.
If there is any answer, it lies within your constituion. It's outdated and in some ways obsolete in today's world.