When Pat Maisch got to her feet in the public gallery after Wednesday's failed Senate vote on gun controls, she had no intention of doing anything other than walking out in disgust.

But as she rose, so did the anger she felt at the representatives who, she said, had failed to represent their constituents.

"Shame on you" she yelled, a stinging rebuke that summed up the emotion felt by many in the country as the hope of getting meaningful legislation to reduce gun violence in the wake of a massacre of 20 children and six adults by a gunman at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, faded and died. President Barack Obama echoed her sentiment in a speech later in the day.

CSGV (@CSGV) CSGV's @lorihaasva & Tucson hero Pat Maisch detained after yelling "SHAME ON YOU" following Manchin-Toomey #p2 #tcot twitter.com/CSGV/status/32…

Maisch, 64, a hero of the 2011 Tucson shooting that left six dead and another 16 wounded including former representative Gabrielle Giffords, had spent the two days before the vote in the corridors of Congress, talking to Senators and their staff, trying to persuade the undecided to sign the amendment on background checks.

She managed to stop Arizona senator Jeff Flake in a corridor and spoke to him about the importance of a yes vote. But it was futile. He and 54 other senators voted no. Maisch's verdict was scathing. "Obviously they were swayed by the prestige of being A-rated by the NRA and all the money into their campaigns to get re-elected.

"They are soul-less creatures pandering to the NRA."

Along with other survivors of the Tuscon shooting, the Newtown shooting, the Aurora shooting and the Virginia Tech shooting, Maisch, who runs an air conditioning business with her husband in Tuscon, had sought out those Senators who had not yet made up their minds, in a desperate attempt to get the amendment through.

When the vote came, she and the other gun law advocates who crowded into the public gallery had been told not to talk, stand or take notes. Fearing that the vote would go badly, she had planned to walk out afterwards.

"I just got so angry. They all needed to hear that they are complicit with the blood if innocents on their hands. They are hand in hand with the NRA," she said

Maisch, who had attended Gifford's "Congress on Your Corner" event in January 2011, was hailed a hero after she grabbed a third ammunition clip from gunman Jared Loughner's hand as he prepared to reload. The shootings, in which Loughner killed six people including a nine-year-old girl, haunt her still.

"I had a vision of the worst thing that could ever happen to a parent – holding the body of a lifeless child" said Maisch. "But then Newtown happened. Those parents did not even have the privilege of holding their children for the last time, their injuries were so bad."

The amendment was "critically important" said Maisch. "Loughner had his gun legally but if a background system was in place he might not."

Since her moment of "civil disobedience", as she describes it, she has had a flood of messages from all over the world, telling her it was the right thing to do. Although she did also receive a text from her husband asking: "How much is it going to cost to get you out of jail?"

While many see the failed vote as the end of the road, Maisch said she will continue to fight for gun controls.

"I consider it a delay in justice. We are going to continue to fight for gun reform. I want to help get these people out of office."

She said she will actively campaign to remove Flake from office and is exploring whether they can have him recalled. She said she still believes in the Second Amendment but is also an advocate for sensible gun control. "I have never had the feeling that I needed a gun. I'm a believer in the Second Amendment, but I have never been an activist for guns."

"There are two words that people – I call them Constitution Thumpers, after Bible Thumpers – forget in the Second Amendment. The second and third words are 'well regulated' and we are not well regulated"

"This country needs reasonable public safety laws. And 90% of the US population believes we should have sensible gun reform."

"I'm proud of the senators that had the moral courage to stand up to the NRA and special interests groups to vote for what the American public want."