A ruling with the potential to vastly expand the number of California residents permitted to carry concealed weapons in public was overturned by a federal appeals court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Thursday set aside a three-judge panel’s 2014 ruling that San Diego County’s process for determining who qualifies for a permit to carry a concealed weapon violates the constitutional right to bear arms. The decision is a loss for gun rights advocates including the National Rifle Association who have attacked some of the nation’s strictest public-carry laws.

An 11-judge panel took up the case after California Attorney General Kamala Harris asked for reconsideration of the earlier panel’s ruling that any responsible, law-abiding citizen is entitled under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment to carry a hidden, loaded gun in public for self-defense. The earlier panel found that San Diego County’s sheriff overstepped his authority when he concluded an applicant for a concealed weapon permit didn’t demonstrate “good cause” to carry a Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistol in public.