**back then the school didn’t have any input on such things.**
I remember kids getting on the school bus with their rifles. They were going hunting right after school with another student ..and was going to ride THEIR bus on the way HOME!!!
When I was getting my Markmanship merit badge in the early sixties in Texas, I carried my 22 on the bus, since the scout troop met after school. They made me turn my bullets over to the bus driver when I got on the bus, however. And she always made me do it, even though she was my mom.