Among the changes they might consider are limiting the fees buyers would pay at gun shows, adding provisions dealing with the mentally ill and altering language extending the background check requirement to all online sales, senators said Tuesday.

Supporters fell five votes short when the Senate defeated legislation last month that would have extended required federal background checks to more buyers.

That vote, four months after the massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators at a school in Newtown, Conn., was a defeat for President Barack Obama and gun control advocates. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has promised to revisit the issue, perhaps by early summer.

Gun control groups have stepped up advertising, attendance at lawmakers' town hall meetings and other forms of pressure in an effort to convince at least five senators that they risk electoral defeat unless they reverse themselves and back the effort. Once senators make that political calculation, many lawmakers and lobbyists believe the legislation would have to be changed so those senators could justify switching their earlier vote.

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Flake first told CNN that he would be willing to flip his vote on the measure, provided one provision was amended:

Flake said the only reason he voted no was because of his concern that the requirement for background checks on internet sales is too costly and inconvenient, given the way guns are often sold among friends in his state of Arizona and others.

He said under the measure as written, if a gun owner sends a few friends a text or email asking if they want to buy their gun, or posts it on their Facebook page, "that is considered a commercial sale."

Shortly after, Flake tweeted that this didn't really represent a reversal of his position:

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Forty-five percent of voters in Louisiana say they're more likely to support Landrieu following the vote, compared to 25 percent who said they're less likely to support her. For Kay Hagan, 52 percent said they were more likely to support her, compared to 26 percent who said they were less likely.

Conversely, the poll shows, Hagan and Landrieu's Republican colleagues aren't doing as well:

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The measure, which Toomey, R-Penn., introduced with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was five votes short of the 60 needed to break a Republican filibuster of the bill.

Though a few Democrats also voted against the bill, Toomey blamed the measure's failure on the politicization of the Republican Party. “In the end it didn’t pass because we’re so politicized," he said. "There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it."

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Just four months after Adam Lanza killed 26 people at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and President Obama promised tougher gun laws, the vote proved to be the latest in a long-running string of victories for gun rights activists, the firearms industry and particularly the National Rifle Association, the nation’s pre-eminent gun lobby.

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From PPP:

 52% of voters say they're less likely to support [Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.] in a future election because of this vote, compared to only 19% who say they're more likely to. Additionally voters say by a 21 point margin, 45/24, that they trust senior colleague John McCain more than Flake when it comes to gun issues

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39% of voters say they're less likely to vote for each of [Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska] and [Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska] in their next elections based on this vote, while only 22% and 26% say they're more likely to vote for Begich and Murkowski respectively because of this.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, both Republicans, saw similar results. A poll from PPP released last week also had Sen. Kelly Ayotte seeing a drop in her approval rating since her vote against background checks.

Sen. Pat Toomey, on the other hand, has gotten a boost in the polls since he spearheaded the measure.

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From Gallup:

Prior to the Senate's failure to pass the measure, numerous polls showed that roughly nine in 10 Americans favor expanded gun background checks in concept -- a fact that a number of journalists, columnists, and politicians made note of. Gallup's Jan. 19-20 survey, for example, showed that 91% of Americans said they personally would vote for a measure requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales. Gallup asked this question again in the April 22-25 survey and found a slight decline, to 83% support. The wording of the new question was slightly modified from the January asking, which may be responsible for some of the change. But it also may be that the Senate's failure to pass the measure deflated Americans' support for it.

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Traditionally, political scientists have taught their students that there are two schools of thought about how a legislator should get the job done. One is to vote yay or nay on a bill by following the will of his or her constituency, doing what they say they want. The other is to represent them as that legislator sees fit, acting in the best interest of the voters — whether they like it or not.

But our current Congress — as cranky and inert as an obnoxious old uncle who refuses to move from his easy chair — never went to either of those schools. Its members rarely have the voter in mind at all, unless, of course, that voter’s a cash-laden heavy hitter with the clout to keep an incumbent on the leash and comfortably in office.

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From the poll:

Pennsylvania voters approve 34 - 29 percent of the way U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey is handling gun control and give Sen. Toomey an overall 48 - 30 percent approval rating, his highest ever. By a 54 - 12 percent margin, voters think more favorably of Toomey because of his co-sponsorship of legislation to require expanded background checks.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., on the other hand, is suffering, in part because of her vote against background checks. A poll earlier this week from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling showed Ayotte's approval rating tank by 15 points since October.

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From PPP:

Ayotte now has a negative approval rating with 44% of voters giving her good marks and 46% disapproving. That's down a net 15 points from the last time we polled on her, in October, when she had a 48% approval with 35% disapproving. 75% of New Hampshire voters- including 95% of Democrats, 74% of independents, and 56% of Republicans- say they support background checks. And 50% of voters in the state say Ayotte's 'no' vote will make them less likely to support her in a future election, compared to just 23% who consider it to be a positive.

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The National Journal cites an anonymous senior official in the group, who said senior members of the super PAC met to discuss possible responses to the failure of gun control legislation:

The Bloomberg group is mulling a variety of messages and methods for Arkansas. One approach would be to target reliable Democratic voters, including African Americans, with advertising that calls out Pryor for “opposing the president’s agenda,” the official said. Another would be to expand the campaign to suburban women and other moderates. The campaign might not be limited to the issue of guns.

“Money would not be an object,” the official said, adding that a decision on whether to target Pryor would come soon and that action against other Democrats is still possible.

Pryor is one of the more vulnerable Democrats up for reelection in 2014.

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The poll surveyed Americans, and asked, "Which word best describes how you feel about the fact that this gun legislation did not pass?" In response, 32 percent said they were "disappointed" and 15 percent said they were "angry."

That's compared with 20 percent said they were "very happy," and 19 percent said they were "relieved."

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He added: "We're going to do our best to get something just as soon as we can. It's really an issue that I feel very strongly about and the American people do also."

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Bloomberg News reports:

Christie said New Jersey’s gun-control laws are already considered the second-toughest in the nation by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He cited the state’s assault- weapons ban, a seven-day waiting period prior to any firearm purchase, the third-strictest capacity laws on magazine capacity in the country and a one-gun-a-month law.

He is seeking to toughen laws by mandating that mental- health records are included in the instant background-check process at the time of a firearm purchase. He also is proposing bills to impose or strengthen criminal penalties for selling firearms to convicted felons, possessing a gun with the intent to unlawfully transfer, unlawfully possessing ammunition and engaging in firearms trafficking.

“Ensuring there are common-sense safety measures when purchasing guns is not enough,” Christie said Monday in a press conference. “We must address the many different contributing factors.”

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Celebrities took to Twitter to condemn the senators and NRA lobbyists who worked to shut down the bill.

Aaron Paul retweeted "Breaking Bad" cast member Bryan Cranston:

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Actress Elizabeth Banks tweeted a link to an article that shared the Twitter handles of the senators who voted to block the bill:

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And many other celebs vocalized disappointment and anger and ridicule:

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"They should be ashamed ... They are supposed to be there for us, and speak for us. Who were they speaking for today?" she said of the Wednesday vote.

More here:

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From the Op-Ed:

I watch TV and read the papers like everyone else. We know what we’re going to hear: vague platitudes like “tough vote” and “complicated issue.” I was elected six times to represent southern Arizona, in the State Legislature and then in Congress. I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither. These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which in the last election cycle spent around $25 million on contributions, lobbying and outside spending.

"Speaking is physically difficult for me," Giffords continued. "But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe."

Read the full Op-Ed here.

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So it was big news when he decided to hook up with Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey on compromise gun control legislation expanding background checks and closing the so-called gun-show loophole. When Manchin announced that he was working on such measures, the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent said it represented “real movement in the right direction” and might even “give cover to all of the other red state Democrats who are skittish about embracing this common sense step.” Sargent was also encouraged that the NRA darling said he was discussing the measures with the NRA.

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"We will not get the votes today," Manchin, D-W. Va., told NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell, though added that they would try again.

From NBC News:

Potential supporters, Republican Sens. Jeff Flake, of Arizona, and Florida’s Marco Rubio, could not risk a stand on background checks in the face of opposition from their conservative base because they are already leading on immigration, Manchin said.

Sources also told NBC News that the effort’s proponents are 4 to 5 votes short, a gulf that could widen if Democrats in conservative states decide not to support the measure.

The Senate is set to hold nine total votes on gun control measures on Wednesday, including Manchin and Toomey's proposal, an assault weapons ban and a ban on high-capacity magazines, all of which are expected to fail.

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From the Washington Post:

In an effort to win the support of some undecided rural-state senators, Manchin and Toomey were discussing the possibility Monday of adding language that would exempt select far-flung communities in Alaska and North Dakota from some background check requirements, according to Senate aides familiar with the talks. Such exceptions could help win the support of Alaska’s senators Mark Begich (D) and Lisa Murkowski (R) and North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, a moderate with an A-rating from the NRA.

The New York Times reports that the measure is seeing reluctance from both Democrats and Republicans, despite the fact that it is primarily being pushed by Manchin, a Democrat, and Toomey, a Republican, both of whom are A-rated by the NRA.

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