The DC Circuit Court had struck down the "good reason" requirement that existed in DC for obtaining a concealed carry permit. The city is now forced to issue these permits to those law abiding gun owners that were previously rejected.

Via Washington Post:

More than 700 people have asked the D.C. police for licenses to carry loaded concealed handguns when they dine, shop and walk the streets of the nation’s capital.

The loosening of the law marks a cultural shift in a city where most residents could not legally keep handguns in their homes until a landmark Supreme Court decision a decade ago.

A string of successful legal challenges from gun rights advocates culminated last fall and now make it much easier to get a permit to carry a handgun in the District.

On the third-floor of D.C. police headquarters, officials have started issuing what are expected to be hundreds of new licenses. The permits are the first approved since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in October struck down a key provision of the city’s law that had required residents show a “good reason” to carry a firearm outside the home.

City officials decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court because of the potential national implications. An unfavorable ruling could have weakened gun control regulations in states such as California, New York and Maryland.

Since the October court order, 734 people have applied for concealed-carry permits in the District. Before the ruling, there were only 123 active concealed-carry licenses, and the D.C. police rejected 77  percent of applicants for failing to list a “good reason.”

Among the first people back in the pipeline after the court decision were Brian Wrenn and Matthew Grace, two of the individuals who brought the federal court challenges.

Grace, a financial adviser who lives near Catholic University, was initially denied a permit in 2015, then approved after a court ruling in 2016, before being rejected again after a subsequent court decision arrived at a different decision about what the city could demand of applicants.

Grace said he applied after a friend was robbed at gunpoint while making a deposit at a local bank. At the time, the law required an applicant for a permit to list a “good reason to fear injury” beyond living in a high-crime neighborhood or feeling unsafe.

Grace bristled at the idea of having to justify his desire to protect himself.

“I wasn’t going to try to manufacture a reason. It’s the Bill of Rights. You shouldn’t need a reason,” he said recently, referring to the Second Amendment right to own a firearm.

Even though the city waived the $75 application fee for individuals who had already paid it when they were originally rejected because of the “good reason” standard, Grace was told that the new review process still would take about 90 days to determine whether his permit will be approved.

He — and Wrenn — are still waiting.

Read more here.