After a federal judge struck down D.C.'s outright ban on carrying firearms I applied for one of the newly created concealed carry permits. A bunch of paperwork, time, and hassle later, the city got my fingerprints and $110 and I got nothing:

"The Firearms Regulations Control Act of 1975, (D.C. Official Code 7-2501 et seq.), and Chapter 23 (Guns and Other Weapons) of Title 24 (Public Space and Safety) of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR), establish the qualifications and procedures for the issuance of a license to carry a concealed pistol," the letter from Sargent Colin Hall said. "Based on these criteria, your application has been denied."

(Bolding and underlining in the original.)

According to D.C. police, I have no "good reason" to carry a firearm in the city.

"The applicant did not demonstrate a good reason to fear injury to person or property, or other proper reason for a concealed carry license."

Washington, D.C., doesn't consider its monumental crime rate a "good reason to fear injury to person or property."

But my application also documented online threats I have received that include comments such as "you’re gonna get it so bad, we’re comin for ya." Oh, and this gem: "I have a poster of you on my wall and every day I fantasize about how you’re gonna get it so bad, you bootlicker, you snitch, you dirty red-coat."

Apparently being the object of the rants of an unstable nut doesn't "meet the minimum requirement of showing: ‘a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community,’" a constitutionally questionable standard in and of itself.

The process, from application to rejection, took 90 days. They must have been held up by having to go through the other 68 applications they've received so far.

My options are pretty limited now that I've been denied a permit. The city is already being sued by the Second Amendment Foundation on behalf of others who've been denied, and it's too late for me to join the suit. The only other option I have left is to appeal the ruling, in writing, within 15 days and hope a different set of D.C. bureaucrats finds my reasons good enough to allow me to exercise my right to bear arms.