The Judiciary committees in the Senate and House are responsible for hearing gun control legislation. Here is the current makeup of the Senate Judiciary committee:
Leahy - Chairman (GOA F), Kennedy, Biden, Kohl, Feinstein, Feingold, Schumer and Durbin (GOA F-). Except for Leahy, every current Democrat member of the Senate Judiciary committee also voted for Kennedy's 2004 "Let's ban all centerfire rifle ammo (including .30-30 by name)" amendment to S.1805.
In the House, John Conyers will be the Chairman of the House Judiciary. He is the last active Representative to have voted for the 1968 Gun Control Act, a co-sponsor of the harsher McCarthy AWB, and has proposed a total ban on handguns. Here are his current Democrat committee members (thanks to ServiceSoon for the NRA grades):
Berman (D) California, 28th - GOA F/NRA-F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Boucher (D) Virginia, 9th - GOA A-/NRA A+
Nadler (D) New York, 8th - GOA F/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Scott (D) Virginia, 3rd - GOA F-/NRA D+
Watt (D) North Carolina, 12th - GOA F-/NRA F
Lofgren (D) California, 16th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Jackson Lee (D) Texas, 18th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Waters (D) California, 35th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Meehan (D) Massachusetts, 5th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Delahunt (D) Massachusetts, 10th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Wexler (D) Florida, 19th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Weiner (D) New York, 9th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Schiff (D) California, 29th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Sánchez (D) California, 39th - GOA F-/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Van Hollen (D) Maryland, 8th - GOA F/NRA F (sp McCarthy ban 2005)
Wasserman Schultz (D) Florida, 20th - GOA F/NRA F
So every year since 1989, we have seen AWB legislation proposed in Congress. I think it is highly likely that we will see it proposed again in 2007 and it will go through those committees like the proverbial crap through a goose unless the Dem leadership knows they won't have the votes. If it looks like a close vote, or they think they have the votes, it will go to a floor vote in either the House, the Senate or both.
Beyond that, I can't predict what will happen because it will depend on how bad gun owners want to defeat that legislation and how hard they are willing to work for it. If some of the anger I've seen here in the past few days can be channeled into positive activism, I think we will manage to win the vote in at least one side of Congress.
I also think the new proposed ban will be nasty. I think it will likely prohibit transfer entirely of grandfathered firearms and it will go after magazines in a big way. This one will definitely not have a sunset clause.
Unlike many who think the Dems may pursue the "death of a thousand cuts" strategy, I think they will go the opposite way. They won't have the time or desire to deal with multiple gun bills so they will try to grab everything they can up front. The amendment process in the Senate almost guarantees this will happen.
I will say this, don't waste your money buying vulnerable rifles and magazines unless you just don't own any because chances are good you won't be able to transfer them anyway (like in California) if a new ban is passed. You'd be better off sending the money to a pro-RKBA group for the big fight we are going to have the next two years.