They wouldn't. The drone comment, and protect ourselves comment were separate ideas. I think he's trying to bring to light that our country completely stopped for a month after Sandy Hook, but we ignore all of the innocent lives(including children) that get taken by drone strikes.
Assault weapons don't stand a chance against drones, but I'm willing to bet they out number them and have a lot more trained operators.
My AR-15 was around $900 when I bought it(~2 years ago). Now the same gun is going for $1000+, and there's not even new legislation yet. If these weapons get banned, the criminals that all ready own them will see a gain in their net worth.
I don't see how raising the value of 'criminal' assets is going to help anyone.
Paranoid is an easy answer. A much more difficult answer is that our country has used it's excessive force on the unarmed before. What's to stop them once their governing body(the citizens) is unarmed?