I was at our local CT on Monday, and they no longer sell the SKS (they did before the "recall"). I couldn't find any of the "firearms" guys, but a girl who was allowed to open the cabinets for ammo said that they decided it was too much trouble. She may or may not know what she is talking about.
If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would suggest that this SKS drama was cooked up to discourage sporting goods and CT stores from selling guns, starting with the incredibly deadly and dangerous SKS. Fortunately I am not a conspiracy theorist.
BTW, I too am old enough to remember the days where every hardware store sold guns - big metal trashcans stuffed with Lee Enfields, and all manner of shotguns and bolt rifles. Even our neighborhood drugstore sold 22 ammo.
In my neighborhood (S. edge of Edmonton), it wasn't unusual to see kids with .22s strapped to their bicycles, on their way to local farmer's fields to collect the gopher bounties that farmers used to pay. And in Grade 3, at least one kid brought his 22 in for show-and-tell, and it only caused jealousy from those of us who didn't have our own. It didn't raise any eyebrows, and all our teachers were women AND probably communists. It was all perfectly normal.
It is good that CT sells guns. I hope Lowes, Home Depot, Rona, Home Hardware etc. all follow suit. Normalize something again that was perfectly normal just 30 years ago.
But I am often accused of being a dreamer.