We expect this from Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.), but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi? Say it ain’t so.

The Hill is reporting that Pelosi may allow legislation to come to a vote that would do away with the city’s current ban on semi-automatic guns, trash the registration requirement for all guns and allow District residents to purchase guns in Virginia and Maryland and bring them into the city. But in a surprising twist, the measure she’s thinking of putting to a vote isn’t the usual effort by Souder and his Republican allies — they recently tried again to gut the District’s gun laws — but one put together by a group of Blue Dog Democrats.

What gives? Election-year politics. Apparently the NRA threatened to use its considerable resources against vulnerable conservative Democrats if they didn’t side with Souder’s legislation. Instead of jumping on his bandwagon, they decided instead to put forth their own proposal — and Pelosi seems to be looking to allow a vote so she can save them their seats come November. Supporters of the legislation are claiming that they’ve been given a commitment of a mid-September vote.

No, no, no! We understand the tough position Pelosi is in, but this is one issue she should speak up on. She’s long been a friend of D.C. voting rights, and it’s just not right that she’d be willing to trample on the principle of local rule just to head off threats from the NRA against a few Blue Dogs. Yes, the D.C. Council is dragging its feet, but that’s no reason to hurdle over them altogether. Dick Heller, the man responsible for the historic Supreme Court decision that’s gotten us where we are today, is still participating in the process, having recently challenged Mayor Adrian Fenty’s post-ruling regulations with a second lawsuit. For their part, we’d like to see our Council members and Fenty do a better job explaining the reasoning behind the current regulations. C’mon — there isn’t anyone who thinks that having a gun but only being able to assemble and load it when there is an imminent threat makes sense.

Please stand your ground, Nancy. We get screwed enough as it is. Having a “liberal” Democrat lead the charge for the sake of a few votes is just too much.