> The availability is the same, though

The point is, gouging creates MORE availability. Remember those hurricanes? People outside the devastated zones promptly filled jerry cans with gas, drove into the disaster area, and sold gas out of the back of their pickup trucks for high prices.

That is, until the government made it illegal to do that. The next disaster meant people had no gas until the government got around (days later) to bringing some in and rationing it.

TP is not quite the inelastic situation you posit it is. For example, there's been a boom in sales of bidet toilet attachments. High prices for tp make it very attractive to switch, thus making tp available for others. High prices mean people who already have more tp than they need will be tempted to sell it. High prices mean TP makers will ramp up production as fast as possible. High prices mean people will be motivated to make & sell TP alternatives. High prices mean people have no reason to hoard TP.

Anti-gouge laws lead directly to hoarding and no TP available.

Toilet paper makers already make large amounts of it - the limiting factor is how often supermarkets can restock shelves.

Gouging overcomes whatever the limiting factor happens to be. The profit motive is very powerful at moving around obstacles.