For those keeping score, the National Rifle Association is winning.

Big.

The push for sensible gun laws isn’t over, but what’s happened since Newtown has been a mismatch.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

The slaughter of 20 young children at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Dec. 14 was supposed to prompt a grieving nation to demand tougher restrictions on guns from Congress and state legislatures.

Nothing to offend those who fall asleep at night reciting the Second Amendment. Just a few simple things like tightened background checks and curbs on assault weapons.

Congress, of course, proved a lost cause. Even the Democratic-controlled Senate couldn't pass a modest bill that would have required background checks for guns purchased on the Internet and at gun shows.

A few states -- Maryland, New York and Colorado -- quickly enacted some reasonable restrictions on guns. But Republican-run legislatures in at least two dozen other states headed in the opposite direction.

And on Sept. 10, Colorado voters removed from office two state senators, including the senate president, whose crime was to vote their conscience and restrict gun sales.

Ohio, of course, is one of those states where legislators slept through the wake-up call from Newtown and the Sept. 15 massacre of 12 workers at the Naval Sea Systems Command a mere mile and a half from the U.S. Capitol.

State Rep. John Becker, the amiable legislator from Clermont County who acknowledges that the thought of guns being melted down can move him to tears, said the "great" result in Colorado may prompt him to launch a campaign that would amend the Ohio Constitution to allow voters to recall state officeholders.

Becker is the sponsor of several bills pending in the General Assembly that would expand gun rights.

But he’s hardly alone. By my count, 16 gun-related bills are now pending in the legislature. Six would restrict gun sales and will die without the benefit of a hearing.

The 10 others have a far better chance of eventually becoming law. A couple examples:

House Bill 231 would allow --- with opt-out provisions -- concealed weapons in college classrooms, places of worship, day care facilities, many government buildings, airport terminals and school safety zones.

And House Bill 203 would mirror Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, largely eliminating the “duty to retreat before using force in self-defense.”

When a concealed-carry bill was first before the Ohio legislature 20 years ago, Lori O'Neill was a young mother who feared expanded gun rights would force her seven-year-old son to grow up in a culture of "mutual suspicion and distrust."

So O’Neill wrote a letter to the editor. The Plain Dealer published it. And O’Neill began a crusade that has seen her become one of Northeast Ohio’s leading voices for gun control.

“The recent election in Colorado was one of my most discouraging moments as an advocate,” said the 53-year-old Geauga County resident. “But I also think Newtown did something to this country that’s going to take some time to play out."

Toby Hoover, whose husband was murdered by an easily-obtained handgun 40 years ago, agrees.

"People who think this will be a quick fix are going to be disappointed," said Hoover, executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence.

Tom Diaz, a lawyer, public speaker and the author of two books on the gun industry, may be the most thoughtful person I’ve ever spoken with on the subject.

Diaz believes the country may be approaching a “defining moment” on guns.

“It’s obvious we are in danger of becoming a society where mass violence is, if not acceptable in terms of what people talk about, acceptable in terms of practice. We define ourselves by our actions, not by what we say we think,” said Diaz.

“And if we don’t do anything about it (the violence), we’ve defined ourselves as that type of society. I think it’s all in the balance right now.”

Diaz doesn’t rule out the possibility that this “defining moment” will see gun-rights advocates prevail.

“I think the people who want change need to begin to recognize they could fail,” he said. “I sometimes think people on the gun-control side tend to just dismiss the feelings of gun owners and of people who think guns represent a part of freedom. They don’t appreciate how deeply held these views are among some people.”

While he disagrees with them, Diaz believes many who would expand gun rights are smart and thoughtful people who are unfairly categorized as “gun nuts,” or worse.

“Gun owners aren’t the enemy,” he said. “You have to look at the gun industry. Look upstream at the gun industry. That’s where our problem lies.

“They’re the worst polluters in America.”

Brent Larkin was The Plain Dealer's editorial director from 1991 until his retirement in 2009.