diff --git a/gnupg/gnupg.py b/gnupg/gnupg.py
index 0605f68..27c48bb 100644
--- a/gnupg/gnupg.py
+++ b/gnupg/gnupg.py
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ class GPG(GPGBase):
                 ``$ gpg --with-colons --list-config digestname``.
             The default, if unspecified, is ``'SHA512'``.
         """
-        if 'default_key' in kwargs.items():
+        if 'default_key' in kwargs:
             log.info("Signing message '%r' with keyid: %s"
                      % (data, kwargs['default_key']))
         else: