Interestingly, I find that people with "puritanical" views and proponents of age restrictions tend to be anti-gun.
authoritarians, they come in all colors.
The majority may support the vague term "gun control", but what actual policy do they support?
Another problem your side has on this issue is that when you do pass laws, you often pass stupid ones out of emotion instead of logic. The AWB of course, but I always like to bring up California banning .50 cal rifles even though one had never been used in a crime in the state. "But it looks scary and why would someone need something like that?" is a dumb reason to ban something and isn't going to reduce crime. Plus people like me get to bring it up as an example for decades
