I remember walking down the dirt roads of my neighborhood in Hayward,California while carrying my bolt-action .22, and waving at the local police as they drove by.
Funny you should say that. I also grew up in CA, albiet alot farther north, and I used to walk right through the sheriff station lot, back where they kept the patrol cars, with a shotgun over my shoulder on the way out to the fields beyond. All I would ever get was a friendly “how did you do today?” Or a “hey seen alot over off this bend, might want to check it out.”
Boy I miss the old days