Indeed. When I first left Maui, I lived in Rowland Heights during the early 80's. It was still a small dairy town and hadn't turned into little Korea yet. I lived next to a gun shop, and I remember my dad taking me in there showing me Uzi's, Mac-10's, AR's, AK's FAL's, etc.
Even in the mid to late 80's you could go into the Carlsbad mall, walk into a Woolworth's, buy a gun and walk out through Macy's or the arcade.