There are licenses, permits and registrations. There are also taxes, fees, certifications and insurance associated with most of those as well.
Take a car for example:
The car needs to be registered to the owner (not necessarily the driver).
Annually, this needs to be renewed (tags).
As part of that renewal process, the vehicle gets inspected (note that some states are very lax in that).
Each registered vehicle needs to have a minimum amount of insurance.
The driver needs a state issued license (most states will honor another state's license).
If a state doesn't honor your license, you can usually use your license to get permits for that location for a nominal fee.
Commercial licenses are more expensive across the board.
You may also need parking permits and other associated stuff.
You can however, get a drivers license without a vehicle. This is suitable for ID but also for renting vehicles. Typically the rental car place handles all of the paperwork for its own fee.
Now for a gun:
Owning a gun just requires registration of the weapon.
Carrying a gun requires a permit.
Concealing a gun requires an additional permit and usually a license to justify it.
Use of a gun requires permits and licenses. For example: a hunting license (which certifies that you've gone through the proper safety training) and a permit for the specific game and hunting season. A bounty hunting license would be issued by the paying authority (Quebec for example) but local permits would be needed as well as warrants for arrest. You could use your BH license to get gun carry permits locally but all of that hinges on whether the local government (or corp) chooses to honor that license.
