Yeah, that *is* an interesting, and useful, comparison, and pretty much gives the lie to the claims of some gun lobbyists that licensing and registration are the first steps on the slippery slope to confiscation and banning. Lots of people and their activities are licensed and regulated and certified and monitored in various ways, with good reason: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, drivers, engineers, lawyers, mechanics, teachers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters... It's all about standards, public safety, utility, and other good things. I really don't see any reason in principle why gun ownership, given the potential dangers involved, should be any different.
But principle and practicality are not the same thing, and the current gun registry in this country it seems to me does not and cannot do what it's supposed to do, which is to prevent dangerous lunatics from getting guns. All it does is penalize lawful folks like me. I suppose if police were ever called to a domestic dispute at my address they could go to the gun registry and discover that there are five registered firearms in my house, which would affect their strategy in dealing with it, but I really have no idea how often that kind of thing happens. Besides, I love and treasure my wife and children, the chances of a domestic dispute requiring police involvement ever arising at my house are vanishingly small. And I'm sure that's true of all but a tiny minority of households everywhere.
On the other hand, all the licensing and regulation and etc. in the world won't prevent some disaffected 14-year old from stealing a vehicle and driving wildly all over the neighbourhood, wrecking other vehicles and killing pedestrians... I dunno what the fix is for loonies, and I'm inclined to think there really isn't one in any final sense. Morons and lunatics we will always have with us, and they'll always be able to steal vehicles, get guns, find drugs, whatever it is they want, and do great harm. That's why we pay taxes to support police forces. And hats off to all of those people, that's gotta be one of the toughest jobs in the world to do well.