So with anti-price-gouging laws, we're making a bet that rich people are more constrained by the ability to use certain items than they are constrained by money. That is, if they can't buy up the supply and resell it at absurd prices, they have no reason to buy more than they truly need, so the goods remain available to more people in need, at lower price.

I do like the idea of government-run emergency stockpiles, and rationed distribution of those. But then, I have a feeling that people who want price gouging to be allowed are also the people who, in times of calm, complain about government being fat, and demand the emergency stockpiles to be cut down.