I remember as a kid we would often visit family in stl, and my dad who was an avid fisherman would always make it a point to slip away and go to the bass pro store there. If you have never been to one, it's like a zoo, boat store, gun store, hunting store, fishing store, camping store, and museum all rolled into one. They have huge fish tanks with mature native fish like bass and catfish, stuffed bears, archery ranges, restaurants, bowling alley, you name it, so we would spend hours and hours there and all purchases were sworn to secrecy from mom
I remember the first time we went, we were walking in and some old hillbilly opened his truck door, grabbed a shotgun not in a case, and simply walked in the store like it was a Tuesday. In the middle of St Louis, in broad daylight. No one, including my dad who was a city guy, was even remotely alarmed. I kinda was, but i was maybe 6 or 8 at the time and hadn't been present for having gunsmithing work done. Like i said, growing up in a place that views guns like that does effect how you view them. I also remember riding my bike to a gun store in town (top 3 largest in Illinois) to walk around and check stuff out, and even bought a pellet gun there and drove it home on my bike with money i had from my mowing business i started when i was 12.