COLUMBUS – Two months ago, mourners in Dayton interrupted Gov. Mike DeWine with chants of "do something."

But as DeWine tries to balance the interests of gun owners, domestic violence victims, mental health advocates, GOP lawmakers, judges and prosecutors, perhaps the better call would have been: "do anything."

Monday afternoon, DeWine will unveil long-awaited legislation on gun control and mental health, including strengthening Ohio's background check system and removing potentially dangerous people from their guns.

Does it have a chance in Ohio's GOP-controlled Legislature? In recent years, Ohio's lawmakers have done more to expand access to firearms than restrict them. A proposal in the Ohio House would allow people to carry concealed guns without training or a background check.

DeWine has some remaining political capital after raising gas taxes and pushing for a nuclear energy bailout to tackle another political third rail: gun control. That capital is built, in part, by GOP lawmakers' frustration with former Gov. John Kasich's "my way or the highway" approach. In comparison, DeWine is collaborative and collegial.

But any DeWine proposal will need to get through the Ohio House of Representatives, where Speaker Larry Householder touts an A+ rating from the NRA and ran a campaign ad featuring him blowing a television to smithereens.

Top House Democrat, Rep. Emilia Sykes, said significant gun reform doesn't have a chance in that environment.

So that leaves the Ohio Senate, where Senate President Larry Obhof, who also has an A+ rating from the NRA, says he likes some of the changes that DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted proposed to protect due process rights.

In the Ohio Senate is Peggy Lehner, a term-limited Republican senator from Kettering outside Dayton. After the shooting, she came out in support of restrictions on firearms, saying those proposals were just as "pro-life" as the anti-abortion legislation she has pushed for years.

"I can no longer stand on the sidelines of gun safety," she said. "I've been there too long."

Several in the Ohio Senate are facing tough campaigns in the state's suburbs next year. Gun control could be a top issue for educated voters and suburbanites in 2020. Meanwhile, a group is threatening to put universal background checks on the ballot next year.

In that political climate, one thing most lawmakers can agree on is fixing Ohio's background check system, which is shared with the federal system searched each time someone buys a gun from a licensed dealer.

Pro-Second Amendment Buckeye Firearms Association has called for improvements to which names are entered and how consistently they are entered.

But universal background checks on private sales and gun shows? That's a bigger lift. DeWine might push instead for penalizing those who sell guns to someone who didn't pass a background check.

The other hot-button topic: a red-flag law that allows police or relatives to ask a court to remove guns from those found dangerous to themselves or others. Similar legislation in other states has reduced the number of suicides there.

An easier path for GOP lawmakers would be improving ways to send someone for a mental health evaluation or treatment, removing them from the guns instead of the guns from them.

"To me, the issue isn't the weapon, it's the person," Sen. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Township, said during a hearing about a red-flag proposal. "I don't think any of us would feel any better if we took the person's guns, and then they walked into their spouse's bedroom and killed them with a baseball bat."

Details of DeWine's proposed legislation will be released at a 1:30 p.m. news conference. Check Cincinnati.com for updates.