Buying a Firearm in 1948

My friend’s father worked a paper route and by his 12th birthday had saved up enough money to go and buy his very first handgun, a blued steel Smith and Wesson .22LR caliber revolver with a 6″ inch barrel with leather holster that he bought and took home with him that day, no id, no parental note, no parent present, no background check, no funny looks, no terrified populace, from the local Taylor Drug Store pharmacy down the street from his house. He was born in 1936 so that would have been in December of 1948 in Hopkinsville, KY.