You CAN'T have "a little bit" of a "right" any more than you can be "a little bit" pregnant.
How about making you take a state mandated test, and get a piece of paper to let you join a church?
Or to post?
Or to assemble? Oops; that is also necessary, too, in many instances. Scratch 1A, too.
As to "progress, I was BORN in Californicate, and was able to openly wear a gun in public WHEN I WAS IN 7TH GRADE...and did. In high school, I almost ALWAYS had a gun in my car...LEGALLY. At 16, I was able to (and did) hunt legally ALONE. Now, I would not even be able to own a gun legally at that age, let alone be anywhere near a school with it.
Half or more of what I presently legally own here, would not be legal to even possess there, now; and you call it "progress" because a tiny fraction of the restrictions are selectively rolled back?
It is only progress when it is not necessary to keep fighting the same battles over & over to keep any gain made.
Again, I'm talking about what's happening right now -- what changes are being made right now -- not the total situation right now, and now what's happened since you were a kid.
I agree that the situation isn't ideal, although I disagree that it's terrible. I'm only saying, and insisting, that things are getting better, and have been for the last few years, thanks to the shall-issue laws many states have enacted. I would add also, the manufacturers' protection act that Bush signed.