So far the most we have got is it being legal to beg for privileges. I have seen few actual rights gained that were not already there before the permit scheme went full force.
The state has done a good job at marketing privileges as rights.
To be fair yes we have more gun privileges, but please call it what it is, and do not attempt to snowball the community.
Who is this "we" you talk about?
Certainly can't be gun owners.
Before Florida started the nation down the path of shall issue permits, "we" had exactly one nation with constitutional carry: Vermont. In the last few years, following the shall issue movement, we've seen Alaska and Arizona adopt full constitutional carry. Arkansas has arguably adopted something akin to Constitutional carry. And Wyoming has adopted full Constitutional carry for residents with permit free OC legal for non-residents.
Additionally, Idaho and Montana have constitutional carry outside city limits.
Various constitutional carry bills are pending in something like a half dozen States this year.
Furthermore, Heller and McDonald declare as "settled law" (to use the liberals' favorite phrase for Roe) that the 2nd amendment does protect an individual RKBA without regard to militia service and that said right is enforceable against the States. I don't recall the court specifically citing the overwhelming majority of States with shall issue permit systems at the time, but anyone who has followed other court decisions (including the one that banned capital punishment for those who committed a capital offense while a minor) knows that the current state of local and State laws is a factor in many decisions. It certainly isn't a stretch to suggest that had Heller been heard in the 80s or early 90s, the decision may not have gone our way.
Perhaps most importantly, at the very time that both our opponents, State hunting agencies, and the firearms/hunting industry was predicting a precipitous decline in firearms ownership (and thus political power) as hunting became less common, we actually saw a surge in first generation gun ownership and political activism. Importantly for our actual rights, these new gun owners were not buying hunting rifles. They were getting permits and guns to carry for self defense. The combination of high violent crime in the 80s and 90s, combined with the newly available and increasingly socially acceptable shall issue permits, along with some congressional gun grabber over-reach to make pro-RKBA converts and activists of a whole lot of previous fence sitters.
Coupled with all of this we've seen an expansion of "stand your ground" and "defense of habitation" laws.
Over this time, my home State has moved from discriminatory issue permits to shall issue, permit free car carry, and such strong State preemption as to protect the RKBA of most government employees to carry even on the job and of adult college students to carry to class, and to protect the rights of those working for private employers to keep a gun in their car parked in the company parking lot. We won't get constitutional carry this year. But we will likely remove another small infringement on where guns can be legally OCd without a permit, and probably increase to practical limits protections against losing all guns during bankruptcy.
And just yesterday, the BATFE was forced to turn back its proposed ban on green tipped ammo in the face of overwhelming public and congressional anger at the proposal.
Is the battle over? Of course not. And it never will be. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Always has been. Always will be.
But objectively, we've made some significant and crucial gains in our RIGHTS, as well as in legal privileges that have enabled millions upon millions of law abiding citizens to defend themselves and loved ones from violent crime. And we have every expectation that we will continue to make progress going forward. Whereas at one time increasing urbanization threatened to erode support for RKBA as hunting decreased, we now are in a position where increasing urbanization actually increases support for RKBA as people demand the legal ability to defend themselves from violent criminals. The future has never looked better for RKBA than it does today.
Be of good cheer and an optimistic countenance.
Charles