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D.C.’s Attorney General Karl Racine said today that the District is dropping an appeal on a controversial court ruling that declared D.C.’s previous ban on carrying handguns unlawful.

“We need to focus our energies not on litigating old laws, but defending new ones that our leaders enacted in good faith to comply with court rulings while still protecting public safety,” Racine said in a statement. “The Council enacted a law that sets a process by which individuals may apply for gun licenses, which has superseded the law at issue in Palmer v. District of Columbia.”

Instead of trying to block the court’s ruling, which struck down a ban preventing anyone from carrying handguns outside the home, Racine says that the city needs focus on defending the concealed carry law it passed last year. Under the law, any District resident who wants a concealed carry permit must apply for one through the Metropolitan Police Department.

“Going forward, our energies are best spent focusing on defending the current law,” Racine said. “We are vigorously defending it in the district court, and we are confident that it will be upheld.”