Well, you may well be right too and I really hope not (no insult intended, just not looking forward to less civil liberties).
As it appears to me though, there has really been a gigantic push- back against the anti- gun sector since '08 and it has even intensified in 2010 and 2012 with congressional elections. The pro- gun sector has successfully, at least at the moment, blocked all legislation all the way down to stopping the last federal attempt that started off with assault rifles and the other usual targets (forgive the pun) and ended up trying to limit high capacity magazines.... and they could not even manage that.
This really is not a political discussion but a social one and I think the pendulum has finally started to swing away from the extreme liberal (again socially liberal, not political) views to a more realistic one. It has long been voiced that limiting the legal ownership of firearms would limit firearm deaths and while that may be true in some instances, it is not the major or even a large percentage of the gun deaths in the US. Put even more bluntly, there is no gun problem in cities like Chicago or Washington, DC but rather there is a huge crime problem is [some parts] of those cities. Restricting and regulating firearms purchased through legal channels will never address the major source of firearm deaths simply because it is criminals inflicting the vast majority of those deaths. I would like to believe a larger portion of the citizens are either beginning to see this or perhaps just become more vocal about it.
Brian
You are right BDF and I agree. I hope I'm wrong in a big way. Its kinda like school tax levies, they keep putting it on the ballot and it keeps getting knocked down, 3, 4, 5 times, but each time a few more vote for it or a few more don't vote at all and eventually, usually a Tuesday in May when everyone is thinking summer and are outdoors and not watching TV or paying attention, it passes, but just barely, but a pass is a pass.