Right now there are just rumblings of the push for a assault weapons ban.  I wonder if they are keeping this at just a simmer, only to bring it to a boil when they are trying to ram-rod something else through congress.  Or perhaps they will wait untill a big scandle hits the White House and then really push for a gun ban in order to draw attention away from the scandal.  Congress knows that the issue of guns will get really heated and maybe they are just waiting for a more convenient time to use it.  Even if they know it won't make it through, they could still use the debate as a distraction from other things.  Just a thought.

I'm more suspecting a magical mass shooting. Complete media coverage. Already drawn up bill dusted off; congress critters sign it before even reading (or being allowed), etc.

You don't seriously think our congress critters would sign a bill without reading it first, do you?

This is a good point.  Things are not always as they may seem on the surface.   Politicians promise all kinds of things to different groups during elections even though they do not really intend on doing anything meaningful to fulfill the se promises.  This may simply be because the “promise” is not politically prudent but it was needed to gain important support during the election.
It reminds me of the Bush administrations so called effort on the defense of marriage act.  I don’t want to get into any stance or position on this issue here but it struck me that Bush wanted to appease the right wing of his constituency by showing his support on the issue of gay marriage.  In reality, I don’t think he really wanted it to pass.  He had made promises and then he made it look like he was trying to fulfill them.  The political fact is that America is almost evenly divided on this issue and politically the issue is a disaster for any politician in a swing state or a national election.  The effort was poorly made and lacked real enthusiasm in my opinion.  Again, not taking sides on this siieu here, just an observation.
How does this get back to the AWB?  Perhaps our current president is just going through the motions and “fulfilling” a promise.  He gets to say “I tried”, and then the issue goes away.  Mission accomplished.
Lets all hope this is what it ends up happening.

I can just about guarantee that lib-tard Feinstein will use the deaths of the four Oakland PD officers to support her AW ban legislation.

well, if there isn't one already signed and in effect by 2010,

You can FUCKING COUNT on it afterward