1: I prefer licensing to having a background check/waiting period/whatever each individual time you purchase a firearm. The license is inexpensive and has a very low barrier to entry. However, firearms ownership should be decriminalized in general. I also like the requirement of a training course; it at least means somebody has shown you the basics. It would be better if the training course included live fire, but I don't know how practicable that would be in real life.

2: Currently, the law says a firearm is something that can discharge a projective at > 500 feet/second. This means it's dead simple to build a potato cannon, for example, that you'd then require a PAL to operate.