By a vote of 250 to 171, the House passed the D.C. Personal Protection Act, which would end the District’s 1976 ban on handguns and semiautomatic weapons, roll back registration requirements for ammunition and decriminalize possession of unregistered weapons and possession of guns in homes or workplaces.

The bill also would prohibit the mayor and D.C. Council from enacting gun limits that exceed federal law or “discourage . . . the private ownership or use of firearms.”

The measure now goes to the Senate, where it has almost no chance of passing. With little more than a week before Congress recesses for the fall campaign, only major legislation and uncontroversial measures are likely to reach the floor, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has indicated.

What should be but really isn’t shocking is this:

In a sign of how the politics of gun control have changed in Congress, the vote was almost the opposite of a 1999 House attempt to repeal the District’s gun laws, which failed 250 to 175. Thirty-four House members — 24 Republicans and 10 Democrats — who voted five years ago to preserve the city laws switched sides and co-sponsored Souder’s bill.

They include Rep. Charles W. Stenholm (D-Tex.), locked in a tough battle in a redrawn district; Rep. Deborah Pryce (Ohio), now chairman of the House GOP conference; and Rep. Anne M. Northup (R-Ky.), who represents a swing district based in Louisville.

“For House Democrats sitting in rural or conservative districts who are worried about being labeled as culturally out of step with their districts, this is their one opportunity to make a vote on the gun issue and cement their image among voters,” said Amy Walter, House elections analyst for the Cook Political Report in Washington.

Politicians are our representatives in Washington. They are our employees and should be voting the way their constituency wants them to all the time.

If they change their voting habits when we are watching, what do you think they are doing the rest of the time?