During a press conference this morning, Mayor Vince Gray revealed that the District’s gun drought will soon be broken: Charles Sykes, the only person registered to sell and transfer guns inside the District, will soon open up shop inside the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Ever since the District’s sole licensed gun dealer went out of business earlier this year, residents have been unable to purchase handguns. Two different proposals offered today seek to remedy that.

This morning, At-Large D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendelson introduced a bill which would slightly alter the waiting period for residents wishing to register a handgun inside the District. Under current regulations, Washingtonians seeking to register a handgun must wait 10 days after applying for registration; Mendelson’s bill, in effect for the next 90 days, changes that requirement to a 10-day waiting period after the point of purchase. Mendelson introduced the bill after the city’s lone operating federal registrar, Charles Sykes, lost his lease, rendering him currently unable to process new registrations.

As we mentioned yesterday, gun sales in the District will officially kick off next Tuesday, Sept. 9. But the city’s only licensed gun seller so far won’t actually be selling guns, he’ll just be facilitating transfers from guns purchased in other states. So what about gun shops? In June we predicted that no matter what the Supreme Court’s ruling said, the battle over guns in the District would boil down to where they could actually…

While the District’s revamped gun regulations work their way through the courts (Dick Heller recently sued the city again over its registration process and ban on semi-automatic guns), we’ll soon have our very own licensed gun seller from which to purchase that sweet limited edition commemorative Smith & Wesson handgun. Writes WTOP’s Mark Segraves: D.C. Police Chief, Cathy Lanier was on WTOP’s Ask the Chief program and said she’s been told federal authorities will issue…