First of all - airguns are a lot less lethal and hardly ever kill anyone.
So the lives of the people killed by Airsoft are somehow worth less than the lives of those killed by real guns, simply because there are less of them? If even one life is lost, isn't it worth it, to be safe with just a little less fun?
And the scenario you described about the guns, other than being harder to buy, that's how it's SUPPOSED to be here in america. You can only hunt with certain rifles, you have to have a license to hunt, handguns are restricted to people over 21 with no criminal record and you have to wait 30 days for a background check.
The thing that america has is "Old West" laws that allow you to walk on the streets with pistols strapped to your hips.