Hats off to you Scott. I also have had restricted for 40 yrs and have contested this as well, only verbally, and never succeeded. I guess written is always best.
My son-in-law just went to register his first restricted (a stripped lower) and when asked for range membership, he argued that it could not be fired without completion, and that upon completion he was required by law to update the registration certificate, and at that time he would provide range membership docs. He was told he still needed one to get approval. A few hours later he recieved an email saying it was approved, without membership!
Maybe some common sense infiltrating the system.