Depends how you mean "control".
In my eyes, societal acceptance/non-acceptance has a lot to do with it. Laws help, but as you sort of said earlier, someone isn't going to say "no, I can buy that Glock from you. It's illegal in this country."
From this viewpoint, you can "feel" the difference in attitude towards guns. It's hard to describe, but it's a fundimental attitude difference. Guns as a right is completely foreign. Sure, the farmers scream whenever there's a change in law, but it's more of a "that's damn inconvenient to someone that uses it to shoot predators" over "that violates my right".
It would take years...I dare say decades to shift attitudes in the States *if* there was even a willingness to do so.