I wanted to buy a .38 revolver to wear on my property so I could shoot snakes with snake shot. I just wanted a cheap gun. I wandered my entire local armory show and couldn’t find one used .38. An old man heard me asking and said he had a .38 he was trying to sell. He’d worn it for 30 years some decades ago. It was in awesome condition. I whipped out 4 $100 bills and walked with it. The dealers were visibly angry.
When I was a kid I could have walked into K-mart or Sears and bought it at the counter just as easily. (I don’t know if you had to be an adult or not back then, but regardless no id was required. However, you had to produce a driver’s license to buy ammo and sign a book.)
I sold a Ruger new model Super Blackhawk in a private sale at a gun show.
The guy buying it from me acted like it was supposed to be done in secret for some reason.
Conditioned response I guess.
The guy was in his 70’s and had a hard time holding it up so I didn’t figure he was a threat.