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If you thought the gun debate ended two weeks ago when the Senate voted against expanded background checks and a host of other gun-control measures, think again.

Gun-control advocates are reviving the issue at the state level through ads, town hall meetings, and shaming campaigns in an effort to get lawmakers to change their vote and the Senate to reconsider new gun laws.

New Hampshire and its junior senator, Kelly Ayotte (R), who voted against the gun bill and, notably, was the only senator from the Northeast to vote no on the provision to extend background checks to more gun buyers, have emerged as ground zero in that battle.

Back home in New Hampshire, Senator Ayotte is feeling the heat at town hall meetings, where gun-control advocates are expressing anger. Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Dawn, was gunned down by Newtown, Conn., shooter Adam Lanza in December, confronted Ayotte at a town hall meeting in Warren, N.H., Tuesday.

鈥淵ou had mentioned ... the burden on owners of gun stores that the expanded background checks would harm. I am just wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the halls of her elementary school isn't more important than that,鈥� Ms. Lafferty asked.

We can鈥檛 imagine a more uncomfortable moment.

After expressing condolence for her loss, Ayotte said her position on gun laws hadn鈥檛 changed.

鈥淎s you and I both know, the issue wasn鈥檛 a background check system issue in Sandy Hook,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ental health, I hope, is the one thing we can agree on going forward.鈥�

With that, the encounter was done 鈥� but it鈥檚 likely to be the first of many confrontations Ayotte, and other senators who voted against the gun bill, will face in coming weeks.

In fact, Ayotte is one of a handful of senators 鈥� including Arizona鈥檚 Jeff Flake (R), Nevada鈥檚 Dean Heller (R), North Dakota鈥檚 Heidi Heitkamp (D), and Montana鈥檚 Max Baucus (D) 鈥� who are drawing fire for their "no" votes on background checks.

(Senator Flake recently said his vote puts his popularity 鈥渟omewhere just below pond scum.鈥澛營ndeed, a recent Public Policy Polling survey found him among the least popular senators in the country, with a 34 percent approval rating and a 51 percent disapproval rating, after the gun vote.)

Polls indicate similar trends for some other senators who voted against expanded background checks, including Ayotte. A Public Policy Polling survey also found that half of New Hampshire voters were less likely to support her in 2016 as a result of her vote. Nonetheless, a separate University of New Hampshire poll found her approval rating virtually unchanged, with 50 percent approving of her performance.

You can be sure gun-control advocates are looking to drive those ratings down.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg鈥檚 Mayors Against Illegal Guns, President Obama鈥檚 Organizing for Action, the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, shooting victim and former US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and some of the Newtown families have determined to carry on the gun-control fight, moving from the halls of Congress to the state level and to the airwaves with their message.

At the New Hampshire town hall meeting, Mayors Against Illegal Guns circulated signs reading #ShameOnYou, which were waved at Ayotte, whom critics have dubbed 鈥淣RAyotte.鈥�

The same group also released a TV ad on Tuesday attacking the law enforcement credentials of Ayotte, a former state attorney general known for prosecuting some of New Hampshire's most notorious murder cases, with this message: 鈥淪enator Ayotte is giving criminals a pass.鈥�

The National Rifle Association, of course, isn鈥檛 just standing by. It, along with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, are coming to Ayotte鈥檚 defense, airing ads thanking her and others who voted against the gun bill.

鈥淜elly Ayotte is not just a senator,鈥� says a radio ad sponsored by NRA New Hampshire. 鈥淪he鈥檚 also a mom who cares about protecting our kids. She knows the only way to prevent tragedies like Sandy Hook is to fix our broken mental health system.鈥�

At this point it鈥檚 unlikely Ayotte and other senators will yield to the pressure. (Ayotte isn鈥檛 up for reelection until 2016, by which point her team hopes the issue will be a distant memory.)

But as The New York Times notes, 鈥渢here is precedent for a Republican New Hampshire senator having a change of heart on gun control. Judd Gregg, whom Ms. Ayotte succeeded in 2011, initially voted against the assault weapons ban in 1994. He supported it 10 years later when it came up for renewal, though it ultimately never became law.鈥�

Senator Gregg (R) won reelection after that vote, but Rep. Dick Swett (D) of聽New Hampshire, who cast one of the deciding votes for the assault weapons ban, didn鈥檛 fare so well.

He received death threats, started wearing a bulletproof vest, and told the Times, 鈥淚t was the worst experience of my life.鈥�

Needless to say, he didn鈥檛 win a fourth term.

No doubt Ayotte has taken note.聽