( CNN ) -- On Wednesday , former President Bill Clinton delivered the first of a series of lectures on public service at his alma mater , Georgetown University . When questioned by a student on the failure of the legislation on gun background check in the Senate , Clinton spoke in parables . `` You know that old story about , the problem with a cat that sits on a hot stove is that cat will never sit on a hot stove again , but also it will never sit on a cold stove . I think this is a cold stove , '' Clinton mused . Like most parables , the message was clear . For the past 30 years , the NRA has bought many elections with massive spending and grass-roots campaigns . No candidate who has ever been scorched on the NRA 's stove wants to get burned again , so they cower in the corner . Politicians quake in fear whenever CEO Wayne LaPierre threatens hellfire and brimstone upon any apostate with the temerity to question the NRA 's gospel of the gun . But America is finally fed up . New surveys by Public Policy Polling and Quinnipiac University confirm Clinton 's view that the public has cooled to the NRA . Several senators who voted against background checks have taken hits in their approval ratings . From February to April , Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski 's overall approval rating dropped 8 % . In Ohio , Sen . Rob Portman 's rating went down 9 % since October . And Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada saw his rating go down 3 % since October/November . Alarmingly , for the NRA , this show of disapproval is happening in red states that should be gun rights strongholds . Being on the wrong side of history can be painful . Today 's more tea-flavored GOP politicians find themselves badly positioned on guns . Their ideological rigidity on immigration reform , marriage equality , reproductive rights , Wall Street reform and numerous other hot-button issues is unpopular . When you factor in the outrage over gun violence , Republicans -- who seem inextricably bound to the NRA in the public 's mind -- are under the gun . This week , in a town hall meeting , New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte , who voted down background checks , was confronted by the new political reality up close and personal . Erica Lafferty , whose mother , Dawn Hochsprung , was the principal at Sandy Hook and among the first to be gunned down , asked Ayotte , `` You had mentioned that day 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 is n't more important than that . '' Ayotte defended her vote . But questions like the one Lafferty asked wo n't go away . We will see how the gun issue plays out on the national stage in the coming months . If senators lose support because they refuse to give way to some gun control regulations , we may see some changes of heart . This has certainly been the case in the debate over immigration reform . Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised to bring the matter to the floor again in light of the popular support for immigration reform . It 's possible that we may even see a background check bill come back to the Senate later in the year . Of course , the gerrymandered House is quite another matter . So finally , the heat may be on the NRA for a change . And for the senators who voted against background checks , it looks like they 've jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire . As usual , Bill Clinton saw it coming . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Joe McLean .
Joe McLean : The NRA has bought many elections with massive spending . McLean : But Americans are finally fed up and seem to be cooling toward the NRA . He says some senators who voted down background checks saw a hit in approval ratings . McLean : More politicians may change their minds if they lose support for opposing gun control .