I'll put it this way: Name something government does well, where the outcome is measurable, and where unintended consequences, excessive bureaucracy, or poorly managed costs are not present.
Registration is a classic useless government activity that does nothing but burden the commoner with fees and hassle. When the next "drone" crisis follows the government response will be obvious: registration will be deemed "not enough", and hence we will need even more regulatory control.
The parallels to other government regulatory efforts (particularly here in the U.S.) are obvious. Just for example, look at Chicago's efforts to address violence. With
great regularity, residents shoot each other, and with commensurate regularity the politicians demand even more control and regulations. When faced with failure to stop the problem, they just redirect the conversation to a desire for less freedom. Ultimately, however, the problem is the behavior of a few, and apart from a complete police state (if that), nothing will stop violence that is driven by culture and choice (and not the presence of a tool to enact that violence).
Here, we have a few idiots flying around airports or otherwise presenting a theoretical risk (I don't know of a single example of any drone actually causing harm to manned aircraft). There will always be a few idiots out there and no amount of regulation will change that. What the regulation will change, however, is the ability of non-idiots to enjoy the hobby or commercial use of this new technology.
To be clear, I expect no material safety impact from a registration requirement, but that it rather will just be a stepping stone to further government control with the primary result being a burden on sensible users.
