I have to have a Category C licence, which is more than the basic licence, which required me to attend a police station and talk to the licencing officer about why I wanted more than a basic licence. I also had to provide evidence that I had a safe storage location for it - a gun safe basically.
The police are allowed to check whether it's being stored safely - they never have, but they are allowed to. And if I was convicted of a serious indictable offence, or any firearms offence, whether considered serious or not, I would immediately lose my licence. They could also apply to have my licence temporarily suspended if I was even charged with an offence pending trial.
If your government suddenly took a Tyrannical turn, it would be relatively easy for them to confiscate most weapons, especially with a relatively compliant citizenry..
Yes, it would. As I've said, our laws aren't good laws. I don't like them. But they are just not as bad as they are sometimes painted.
I also, personally, don't have any real concerns about my government turning tyrannical in anything like the near future. I believe our system is stable enough to prevent that. But we have not had the same history of needing to revolt, or having civil wars that the US has had - if we had that history, my attitude towards that would be different - so I certainly believe Americans are perfectly rational to have those concerns as something they think about.