A lot of gun owners thought that after the US Supreme Court ruled that the 2nd amendment was an individual right, that these gun bans would be a thing of the past. The recent actions of the democrats has shocked and surprised them and they are starting to wake up. Politicians are coming on TV and saying how they support the 2nd amendment, but still want to ban guns that they do not like.
I remember that before the 1994 "Assault Weapons" ban I was able to buy semi-auto rifles and not be charged an arm and a leg. Now they are almost impossible to get without paying insane prices and everything including large capacity magazines are on back order. This was the first clue that the public was not backing this ban in the way that the politicians believed.
A few democrats are realizing that they could pay a significant price in 2014 if they were able to get a ban passed and the public support is not as strong as they were led to believe.