Remember Western Auto? A 9 year old could plunk cash on the counter an buy a gun.
The world has changed.
I bought my first gun, a .22, on LayAway with my paper money.
No parental authorization necessary. Of course, this was in SE Arkansas decades ago.
When I got out of the Army in '78 I went to the Woolworths at the local mall for something and they had 3 circular racks with at least a dozen M1 Garands on each one.
If memory serves they were asking between $125 and $175 for them. I should have picked up a couple but I didn't.
A different USA, never to return, I'm afraid.