Reid is making a political calculation that it is better to kill it now than to bring it up for vote and be embarrassed at the lack of support from his own party.
Sadly I live in CT and the idiots in this state elected Murphy and Blumenthal who live under the delusion that background cheeks for ammo would have prevented Sandy Hook.
Sure he is, and the old cow, DiFi, knows full well that a lot of Commie Senators are up for re-election in 2014, who can't touch something this hot with a ten foot pole.
She's been in the Senate long enough to know how this works. She knew going in, that gun control is the biggest hot button issue in the country. She knows that a lot of members of both houses are going to have to commit political suicide to pass the sort of legislation she wants.
Maybe she's just gotten so old and senile that it just doesn't register anymore. Like some of the old bulls on our side, she may have forgotten where the 'line' is, and will piss off her constituents without even realizing it.
Or, maybe she knows exactly what she's doing. Head fake, anyone?