Circa 1966. I was in high school and I and friends would often hunt after school was out. We had shotguns in our pickups. The cops knew this, and the principal knew this. They knew this because you could see the shotgun in the gun rack. These weapons were never used in an illegal fashion. My weapon was a single barrel 20 gauge from Sears and Roebuck. That weapon has taken much rabbit and birds.
Sadly times have changed for the worse.
1964, when I started High School I joined the California Cadet Corps (sponsored by the USMC), we had our own indoor range for small bore rifle (22) and were bused about 10 blocks for our large bore rifle (30-06 1903 Springfield) practice.
Bearing in mind, this was California, my how times have changed.