According to a report from RedState, based on a personal interview with a California gun retailer, leftists visiting gun shops are shocked and dismayed to learn that there are strict gun control laws on the books, and that their vision of an American where guns are readily available and subject to few regulations isn’t reality — now that they are interested in purchasing firearms amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“They’re shocked to discover they can’t just walk out of the store with a gun,” the retailer told reporter Kira Davis.

Gun control activists are adamant that the United States has overly lenient gun laws, and many armchair Constitutional experts routinely insist that guns are not subject to waiting periods, identification and background checks, or purchasing limits. In fact, gun control activists are apt to compare guns and abortion, suggesting that the practice of abortion is far and away more heavily regulated than gun purchases.

It turns out, they’re rather shocked to discover guns are, in fact, subject to heavy regulation.

“More than a dozen of these buyers (men and women) actually thought that since they filled out and signed everything, they could just walk out and go home with the firearm. Several actually said they saw how easy it was to buy a gun on TV and why did they have to fill out all these forms,” one gun retailer told RedState. “Most were VERY vocal about why it takes 10 days minimum (sometimes longer if the DOJ is backed up) to take their property home with them. They ask why do I need to wait 10 days if I need the protection today or tomorrow?”

Things get very heated, the retailer added, when they note that two forms of identification are needed to purchase a firearm in California, and that the state practices strict background checks, demands lengthy waiting periods, and limits the number of guns one individual can purchase per month.

“They really went crazy when we told them that for each firearm they had to do the same amount of paperwork and they could only purchase ONE handgun every 30 days,” he added.

Some customers were so incensed, the gun retailer claims, that they left the gun range one-star, sometimes profane reviews on Yelp.

The retailer, taking things in stride, has told more than a few customers to reconsider their position on gun control laws, he says: “We pointed out that since no one working here voted for these laws, then maybe they might know someone who did. And, maybe they should go back and talk to those people and tell them to re-think their position on firearms – we were trying to be nice.”

The pandemic has pushed gun sales to “record highs,” according to NBC News, and many of those sales are going to first time gun buyers.

“The FBI conducted 3.7 million background checks last month, according to its latest figures, the highest total since the national instant check system for buyers was launched in 1998 and 1.1 million higher than the number conducted in March 2019,” the outlet reported.