I agree with your points, and I certainly can relate to the difference in rural/ urban attitudes towards gun ownership.
Just crunching the numbers I mentioned above, total gun owners in WA make up about 330 000. West Aussies not living in Perth, about 230 000. So, either the stats are not clarifying numbers of weapons per person, or there are 100 000 Perthians running around with gats. In comparison to the rest of the country, there is a total of about 850 000 gun owners in the country. This is disturbing, as a state that makes up a 10th of the population nearly owns half of the guns.
As for the attitudes you mentioned, I can relate to that. In my younger years, I lived in Mt Isa, and I owned a semi auto SKK. It was just an accumulated thing I just wanted to have. I wasn't really getting much use out of it, so I sold it. When I joined the Army, I learned to hate guns. An hour plus sitting around cleaning the things for a 10 minute shoot? Piss off. I have settled in Brisbane now, and I can't understand anyone wanting to own one, unless they were a competitive shooter, or a wannabe gangsta. I can understand farmers needing guns, but for them, they are pretty much tools of the trade.
This is so different from the States. Any idiot over there who wants a gun can have one. I have also noticed it is now legal to murder people with their new " Stand your ground" laws. I will always be grateful my country will never get as f***ed up as that.