Photo by annejuliet

Dick Heller seems to be happy just to be able to keep a gun in his house. Alan Gura, on the other hand, wants District residents to be able to carry them in public. The Washington Times is reporting that Gura, one of the lawyers that represented Heller in last year’s Supreme Court case that knocked down the city’s ban on handguns, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of four people that want to carry their guns in public. Currently, guns can only be kept inside homes unless they are being transported to a firing range or a police station for registration. One of the plaintiffs, Amy McVey, argues that her right to self-defense should extend to outside of her home. “My right to self-defense shouldn’t stop at my front door,” she said, adding, “Everywhere it’s legal.” The lawsuit also seeks to force the city to recognize permits from other states allowing gun owners to transport their weapon of choice in public.

Fenty Signs Anti-Crime Bill: Even though summer is winding down and crime remains surprisingly low, yesterday Mayor Adrian Fenty signed an emergency crime bill that gives chronic offenders stiffer penalties, adds the homeless to the city’s hate crime law, allows police to set up loitering-free zones for longer periods of time and makes texting while driving illegal. According to the Post, the bill does not include a controversial anti-gang measure that was voted down earlier this summer over fears that it would lead to racial profiling. And in keeping with the maturity we expect from our government leaders, Council member Phil Mendelson, who authored the legislation but led the campaign to remove the anti-gang provision, was not invited to Fenty’s signing ceremony.

Prince William County Turns Illegals Over to Feds: Prince William County provoked local and national controversy a few years back when it started a program allowing police officers to check the immigration status of people they detained. Now the Examiner brings news that between July 2007 and May 2009 the county turned more than1,600 illegal immigrants over to federal authorities for deportation. At the same time, federal officials have described problems handling all the illegal immigrants they receive.

Really, Virginia, Really? Sorry, but anyone who subscribes to the birther movement that believes that President Obama wasn’t really born in the U.S. is a moron. And according to the Washington Times, there seem to be a lot of morons in Virginia. According to a recent poll, fully 24 percent of the commonwealth’s residents believe that Obama is foreign born, with another 24 percent saying they’re not sure. Fine, that’s not an outright majority of the state’s people, but it’s still far more people than should actually believe that America elected a foreigner as a president. Christ, even Ann Coulter has called the birthers “cranks.” Ann. Freaking. Coulter. (BTW, Arnold in 2012!)

Briefly Noted: Obama wades into local political races, stumps for Deeds in Virginia … More traffic cameras coming for Maryland … Former Miss Maryland pleads guilty in drug case … MoCo firefighter caught in online sex sting.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2008, we reported that FiOS was on its way to the District and checked out Columbia Heights’ Commonwealth. In 2007, a local D.C. chef made it to the “Hell’s Kitchen” finale and we asked you guys to touch up our fair city.