The idea of this entire charade is, when they finally are able to ram through bills with lesser restrictions (viz. universal background checks, reduced capacity magazines) it will be heralded by the media, politicians, and their cheering sychophants as further "compromise" for "gun safety" and the low information drone voters will see it as compromise and accept it as reasonable.
Glenn Beck wrote a book that probably won’t get a Pulitzer. It was called the “Overton Window.” I looked it up and it perfectly exemplifies what we are seeing here. Everyone should look it up too. For your convenience I’m including a link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window