What works here works there

One of the stock arguments for "gun control" (euphemism for confiscation and blanket bans) is the comparison between the US and other (cherry-picked) countries. If it works there, it ought to work here.

Putting to one side the question of how well that really works in other countries, consider the operating assumption: what works here works there, or vice versa.

Pres. Bush had that philosophy. He thought we could import democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan If it works here, it ought to work there. 

Influenced, perhaps, by his Methodist theology, he had a theory of human nature:

When it comes to the desire for liberty and justice, there is no clash of civilizations. People everywhere are capable of freedom, and worthy of freedom. This much we know with certainty: The desire for freedom resides in every human heart. Over time, and across the Earth, freedom will find a way.

But as he belatedly learned through sorry experience, what works for one country may not work for another country.