These letters got overrun by other issues and did not make the paper.

A couple of McClatchy editorial cartoonists wasted no time in taking the president to task after his office released a picture of him shooting skeet. The Super Bowl cartoon is here for good measure.

The recent story about the NRA calling for armed guards in every school set off a firestorm among N&O readers. Here is a look at some of the letters we've received (largely unedited). I can't post a nifty link to the original story because our blog system is, um, broken. But here's the story:

WASHINGTON -- The nation’s largest gun lobby, which has stayed mostly quiet since the shootings that killed 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school a week ago, called Friday for Congress to require armed security guards in every school, saying that doing so could prevent acts of mass violence from happening again.

In a defiant and unapologetic speech, Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, said Friday that the organization would use its resources to build what he called a “national school shield emergency program.” The NRA’s program will be led by Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman and U.S. attorney from Arkansas.

LaPierre on Friday blamed the Connecticut shooting spree on violent video games and movies, as well as the portrayal of guns and mass shootings in the media and the lack of a comprehensive database of the mentally ill. He also said no-gun zones at schools could invite new attacks by those he described as “monsters and predators.” The only thing stopping a “bad guy with a gun” is “a good guy with a gun,” LaPierre said.

www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/21/2560444/nra-calls-for-congress-to-require.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

In a move likely to fuel conspiracy theorists even more, Wake County school board member John Tedesco is slated to speak at another Tea Party Tax Day Rally.

Tedesco is among the list of speakers scheduled to talk at Tax Day Tea Party 2011 on April 15 in downtown Greensboro, according to YES! Weekly, a weekly in the Triad area. The event is being organized by Conservatives for Guilford County and they will be joined by groups such as AnyStreet NC, NC Right to Life, the Civitas Institute, the John Locke Foundation and the National Rifle Association.

Conservatives for Guilford is listed as a member group of the state chapter of Tea Party Patriots.

Run a letter about upholding or curbing gun rights, and it will not go unanswered. We feel strongly about the Second Amendment here in these parts. The NRA is held in higher esteem than the president, Congress, Democrats and Republicans after all. So I was kind of surprised that we got so little response today on the Page 1B story about Charlotte's hosting the latest NRA convention (read it here).

The bloggers at The Charlotte Observer have posted a little song about the convention. I offer it here so you can sing along or sputter your outrage.

Showtime's "Lock 'N Load" should make the NRA really happy.

The show, which premieres tonight at 8, is a reality show about life in a gun shop. The featured salesman and the show's creator and co-executive producer is Josh T. Ryan.

Ryan, a stage actor, sells guns as a day job and figured out that the people he meets and the experiences he has would make a good reality show.