It will depend on the AWB votes in the Senate. If everything is struck down before reaching the House of Representatives things will calm down in another 12-18 months. I think it will take that long because of all the backorders that still have to get filled. (I still have some backorders with July or later ETAs for delivery.) Furthermore, it will take a while for people to readjust back to the idea that it will be possible to just get some ammo like normal at the store or place an order online and actually get it delivered quickly.
When the next election rolls around the Democrats will probably run Hillary. She will be a strong candidate and potentially win. If she even gets the nod to run, people should plan to see another shortage of this scale or more. (You know she's a power player when people don't even need to give her last name.) The republican party needs to start searching/grooming a real powerhouse candidate (with widespread appeal) to even stand a chance of winning the election. As of now, I can't think of a REAL challenger to go against Hillary.
Currently, Walmart and Bass Pro are still completely sold out of ammo with ZERO signs of letting up) and LGS still getting FULL panic prices on ammo for the meager quantities available. A small selection of defensive carbines are showing up but priced at MSRP (or better) depending on the brand and store.
The only real positive thing I've seen is that prices appear to have reached their threshold on things and start to slowly come down. However, I would expect to see places maintain a 10-15% increase over the pre-panic prices as the new "normal" price.