That is the way it used to be.
I have heard stories of high schoolers carrying their rifles on the subway in NYC. Probably in the 20’s or 30’s...
It wasn't in NYC (hell, I would live there), but in western Oklahoma in the 80's, my buddies and I used to carry our rifles TO SCHOOL in the gun rack of our pickup trucks! And the Superintendent of Schools knew it! And he would ask us how the hunt went in the morning.
And this was in the 80's, people!