[Oberon]

Originally Posted by August

You're basing your argument on a false premise. I don't know about your country but over here one does not need a license, registration or training to own and operate any motor vehicle from motorcycle to tank. One only needs a license to drive on public roadways.

Very well. But the other points still stand in regards to aircraft and trains.

What you're proposing for firearms goes a step further with all that entails. How do you intend to verify that my firearms are kept what you deem safely? You going to send armed men into my home to demand that I show them the contents of my gun safe? And even if it were somehow legal to violate my right to privacy just how will they be able to tell if that's all of them and I don't have a few more stashed away where I can get to them quickly?

No need to send armed men, one gentleman with a clipboard would do the job, a bit like when some animal shelters won't let people take a dog home until they've seen that the home is an acceptable environment for the animal. Obviously you have the right to refuse the gentleman entry, but then you wouldn't get your licence.
Sure, if you want to keep some stashed away under the floorboards or whatever, that's your prerogative, but if a child finds it and shoots someone with it, you're accountable for negligent firearm ownership.

Finally let me offer a graphic of my own. As you can see traffic safety isn't the only thing enjoying a 50 year low.

Excellent news, but what's the harm in trying to get that even lower? Again, are we looking at acceptable casualties here?

Seriously though, anti-gun people are just going to use every new school shooting as a tool to beat gun owners over the head with, they will use them as a reason to ban guns completely. They're already doing it, but as more children die the call gets louder. Has there been such a vocal movement against firearms in the US in the past fifty years? I'm not aware of it. Has there been such a rapid and continual rate of school shootings in the US in the past fifty years as there has been since Columbine? Not that I'm aware of. So the drum beat is getting faster, things are coming to a head and honestly I think that some sort of license system is probably the best compromise that can be reached. Otherwise you're going to get things like another assault weapons ban, or more magazine reductions, things that will effect you more than a simple license check.
But, I guess compromise has never been a strong point in the States, so I shouldn't expect much. It does seem to be viewed in the same tone as 'surrender', so I expect that this issue will just continue on until someone does something rash and upsets the whole apple cart.