I would say that any expectation that there will be no attacks on the Second Amendment is irrational. Read Obama's website. It says right there that he wants to make the Clinton Ban permanent. Congress is controlled by the Democrats; a party that has a history of passing such legislation.
The belief that Obama has too much else on his plate too worry about gun control does not take into account how things really work. Any gun owner who is counting on this is just whistling past the graveyard. If he wants to pretend he is doing nothing but working on the economy, he can do that easily. After all, he doesn't have to do a thing about the AWB except sign the bill that is put before him by Congress. And he will. Or he can create a righteous fervor over evil guns to take attention away from the fact that he can't do anything to positively effect the economy. Either way, you will lose a chunk of your rights.
This chunk will almost certainly involve magazines holding over ten rounds, so pick them up now. Autoloaders themselves are in the sights, so to speak. Yeah, really. It is quite possible that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will greatly limit, or even prohibit, the importation of handguns. If you've always had your eye on a HK, get one now. GCA 68 gives her a lot of power and leeway, and she has no respect for the upper limits of her authority. Come to think of it, no one being handed the reigns does.
Bans and restrictions will be the rule, as confiscation is not as easy here as in other countries. But make no mistake, confiscation is on the table at their most private planning meetings. Besides, if the manufacture, sale, or transfer of a type of gun or magazine is illegal, it will get confiscated and destroyed when you pass away. A couple generations and a few more of these reasonable restrictions down the road, our grand children will be investigating noises in the night armed with single shot BB guns.
As far as the prices are concerned, this is just the reality of a situation like this, and we'll all sleep better if we just accept it. People love to cry "gouging." I don't see it that way. When it's a buyer's market, nobody feels guilty about paying low prices. No one say "hey, this costs too much to design, develop, market and sell to be charging this low, low price. I must pay more." But when the worm turns, and demand begins to rise against supply, all of a sudden the guy on the other side of the counter needs to turn his business into a charity. Sorry, but that's not how a free market works. Dig deep and buy what you can. It's better to buy a 15 round magazine for 50% more than it cost last spring than to not be able to buy it at all. Which will be the case soon enough. Or, maybe Obama can establish price controls on ARs and 10+ magazines!
BTW, I write this from the perspective of someone who is not in a financial position to buy any endangered firearms. I currently own a M1 Carbine, for which I have been hunting down good magazines (which is a chore in the best of times). That is about all I can afford. So it's not like I am rich and don't care about prices. I just have a very realistic view on free market economics. It sucks that this window will close on my opportunity to own an AR or a pistol that holds more than eight rounds in the magazine. But in the end, it's very much my fault for not buying them when I had the chance, and for picking an unprosperous career that has me broke all the time!
