It was not that long ago, that most countries regulated products, communications, food, and many other things, even arms & munitions, very, very lightly. In the UK in 1903, a law was passed prohibiting the sale of pistols to children. The UK is a country where adults who have served in the military have a hard time buying a pistol today.
From 1900 onwards, the scope of safety regulation greatly expanded, and the state apparatus necessary to make that regulation stick also expanded. Different countries have gone in different directions with it. The US has a lot less safety than many other countries, but our regulations and regulatory apparatus greatly expanded, too. It's easy to sell safety to voters and with improving technology and information systems, more and more safety was possible.
We are probably approaching a local maxima of some kind in our approach to safety; or maybe we just suffer from a maniacal focus on it. Legislators are ever more willing to set aside the fundamental rights in the name of protecting the vulnerable from harm.