Earlier this month we reported good news out of Washington, D.C., as the city was apparently following the latest court ruling in Wrenn v. District of Columbia and had stopped automatically denying every single concealed-carry permit application submitted.

But late last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia temporarily blocked a lower court's order mandating that the District process concealed-carry applications and disregard its "good" or "proper" purpose requirement. This means district officials can once again deny concealed-carry licenses even to applicants who meet all other qualifications, including successful background checks and completion of extensive firearm training.

While this won’t be the last word on the case, it once again leaves the good citizens of D.C. unable to adequately defend themselves against armed violent criminals, who don’t follow the district’s restrictive firearm laws.

A grocery store owner in Fort Worth, Texas, got the better of three armed robbers on Wednesday. The grocer was allegedly approached by a trio of men, one of whom demanded money while a second brandished a shotgun. The proprietor handed over his wallet, but then pulled his own gun and shot the armed accomplice. 

The armed suspect died at the scene while his accomplices escaped. The owner explained that the men “… come to rob my store. But because they take the money, I shoot them.”

Police were called to the scene of an attempted robbery in Hope Mills, N.C., on Thursday, where three armed men attempted to rob a resident. With guns pointed at him and the robbers demanding money, the would-be victim was able to pull a gun from his vehicle and began shooting. The robbers returned fire before fleeing.

The victim hit one of the suspects, Gerald Douglas Raeford, who was later pronounced dead at the scene. The other two suspects fled on foot and are still at large; police consider them to be armed and dangerous. The victim, who also sustained a gunshot wound, was being treated at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.

An important step is being taken in California to determine the status of self-defense rights. A three-judge panel in Peruta v. County of San Diego determined that the state’s “good cause” requirement for issuing concealed-carry permits was unconstitutional, but the case was referred to the 9th Circuit court for an en banc hearing. Now the judges of the court have heard oral arguments for Peruta as well as Richards v. County of Yolo, another case pertaining to the “good cause” provision.

The finest Second Amendment attorneys are on the case, but prospects are uncertain given the court’s known anti-gun leanings.  Still, the fight continues in California, and will for some time to come.

Michael Bloomberg launched The Trace, his anti-gun news service, this week. Pronouncing, “we work from the facts,” the editors went on to claim:

“Thanks to legislative measures facilitated by the gun lobby, there’s basically no Centers for Disease Control funding for research into the causes of our country’s epidemic levels of shootings.” Because gun owners resent the use of their tax dollars for politically motivated “research.”

“Federal law-enforcement agencies are limited in the firearms trace data they can share with lawmakers and the press.” … who were misusing it to inflate statistics and make false claims.

“Gun companies are shielded from litigation that might bring greater transparency to their business practices.” Actually, they’re only shielded from frivolous lawsuits over criminal misuse of their products.

“Proposed gag laws would prevent doctors from even talking to their patients about basic gun-safety practices.” Because some medical groups want to ban guns by treating them like a communicable disease.