New reports suggest that the proposed assault weapons bans will be allowed to fail in favor of broader legislation. More Info:

Barring an unexpected turn of legislative affairs, a ban on military-style semi-automatic assault weapons will not make it into law, top Hill aides and gun policy advocates say.

The ban will get a vote. But the purpose of that vote will be in part to facilitate its demise. The expectation is that there won’t be 60 members of the upper chamber to support the bill’s inclusion in the final legislative language.

The likelihood that an assault weapons ban ends up in the legislative scrapheap is hardly unexpected — the Wall Street Journal also reported on the issue on Monday morning. The ban is the most controversial of four major components of the gun control platform that the Obama administration introduced and that congressional Democrats have touted.

Long story short, Sen. Harry Reid is hoping that a Senate sub-committee strips out the assault weapons ban so that three more-popular gun control proposals might be passed by both chambers of Congress. Hit the jump for a detailed breakdown of the plan, and what it could mean for the gun control debate going forward.