McL having lived in Canada through the Alan Rock years, been an instructor when they were still called FACs (Firearms Acquisiton Certificates for those who don't know) and moved to the US just before the registration of long guns kicked in, maybe I can help shed some light.
As Stimpy says, there are fewer folks having to jump through the paperwork hoop in the US, and selling or trading face to face is straightforward. And there is no national requirement for a 'posession' type licence (though states or cities may have one). Generally the only time one needs to go through an FFL is when purchasing from a licenced dealer, or from out of state. Private purchases for the most part are not hassled.
One problem however, in addition to the feds, each state has its own regs. It may be possible to do a simple purchase in one state, and next door the same purchase is restricted, or verboten.
Example, we moved from New Mexico to Washington State last summer. In NM we could purchase a handgun (from a licenced dealer) with a standard FFL doing the standard NICS phone call. In WA to buy a handgun one must either have a Concealed Carry Permit or go through an FFL who forwards the paperwork to the local sheriff for a background check, adding a week to 10 days to the process. Not a big deal if you have a CCW, but it was a surprise to us when we bought my wife's Beretta .22
Also some states have 'politically incorrect' (similar to Canada's prohibited, and restricted) categories in their laws, some still have hi-cap, or 'assault rifle' bans that the feds no longer have. And add to that mix the chance that regs in larger cities are different (usually more restrictive) than state, or fed regs. At least in Canada the law is the same across the land providing consistency and lack of confusion. The disadvantage to that of course, is that in Canada one can't really contemplate a move to another region where the regs might be more acceptable.
And to make it even more 'safe for society' there are various moves afoot to 'close the
gunshow loophole' (as the antis call it) by making it necessary to purchase
any firearm at a gunshow through an FFL. Some states have storage and locking requirements as well (like Canada's). This in fact has been proposed here in my new home state of WA. Don't know yet how it will turn out, but I'm gearing up again because it is like going up against the sleazy Liberal Party of Canada from the early '90s all over again. (I thought I might get too old for this cr@9 but I guess not.)
Doing a deal over the phone as easily as you describe certainly seems, on the face of it, appealing; the only glitch for us here in the States is having the government require a licence (PAL) simply to own a firearm; that is very distasteful for most of us to contemplate.
All in all, I would rather be subject to the situation south of the border than north (especially the western part of south of the border) ... yet I keep waiting to read that the Conservative government has finally pulled the plug on the Liberals stupid firearms legislation. But I doubt that can realistically happen as long as they are a minority government and have some dependence on the NDP and/or the Bloc.
And at the risk of sounding provocative: Yes you
should be down on your system of gun control... you should be down on
any system that does anything other than aim it's efforts at the prevention of violent or crazy people from acquiring firearms... and severely punishing those who actually misuse them. Neither Canadian nor US gun control laws do that.
Nowhere on the planet, at any time in history, have so-called 'gun control' laws prevented violent people from harming other people. The only real effect has been to oppress and alienate legitimate, responsible firearms users. Oh yeah, and to widen the gap between the powerful and the powerless.
