We’ve heard a lot about the NRA and gun control in the wake of the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado. Lots of our cartoonists have already weighed in on the issue (check out our collection of Gun Control cartoons), but readers seem polarized by conservative cartoonist Gary McCoy’s cartoon about the call for increases gun control laws following the shooting:

Here’s a sampling of some of our readers’ comments on Facebook:

David Wilder MaGoo: Sorry, don’t see the correlation. Guns don’t fall out of the sky.

Suzanne Chiles: When it’s easier to buy 6000 rounds of ammunition than it is to buy a box of Sudafed, I’d say that yes, we probably do need some more laws concerning the ownership and operation of firearms.

Ivy C Maile Boley: you can’t make laws that make people less crazy, less mean, less marginalized – - laws are supposed to step in when society has failed to uphold our inherent cooperativeness.

Tim Campbell: Stopping deranged people from killing – (left solution) harder access to guns. Stopping teens from having sex – (right solution) harder access to birth control.

Steven Pennella: Total cheap shot considering Democrats are pro-solar power and the fossils of the GOP are pro fossil fuel.

Michael A. Cooper: Why are ALL the gun laws aimed at the law abiding and NOT the criminals?

Rick Wade: If the existing laws were enforced the situation would improve dramatically.

Bob Jones: Cartoon is a non sequitur. Guns and gun violence, unlike sunshine, are not naturally occurring phenomena.

Eric Nelson: Here’s a thought, let’s enforce our laws on the books and close loop holes for gun shows. Tax ammunition like talons out of existence and bring back an assault weapons ban. For those enthusiasts who love assault weapons, I’m sorry. Hell pot is illegal.

What do you think? Comment below or drop us a note on our Facebook page.

Leave it to our conservative rabble-rouser Gary McCoy to rile up our readers yet again. Fresh off the heels of his Sandra Fluke cartoon controversy, McCoy’s most recent cartoon calls out the President for politicizing the murder of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin…

I’ve asked Gary to write something about the cartoon, and here’s what he sent me:

And so it goes… I do a cartoon on President Obama politicizing the Trayvon Martin death, and thousands of spastic, hyperventilating leftists reached for their inhalers in unison, collectively raising CO2 levels, and melting the polar ice caps. All the while I celebrate their anger sitting in my comfy arm chair and watching the ice melt in my glass of scotch, with a warm, smug grin on my face.

Why is it that my conservative editorializing rubs liberals raw like Rosie O’Donnell’s bicycle shorts? What we have here is our country’s most narcissistic president ever, unable to keep from making every major story about him if at all possible (unless it’s high gas prices, a still sluggish economy, high unemployment, etc.). The Trayvon Martin story is about a black teen that was tragically shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer. Those are about the only facts we know for certain. The shooter, Mr. Zimmerman has not been tried in any court of law to have been found guilty of anything. As of now, we do not know if he was justifiably defending himself or acting outside the rule of law. Yet every Supreme Court Justice wannabe is posting with certainty like this is the next Dred Scott case. The bizarreness of Obama stating that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon is nearly unfathomable. Yes, Mr. President, we know you’re black (half black technically), but really, what’s your point? Mr. “let’s all come together, and not make race an issue” can’t seem to keep from waving his giant, novelty, double-laminated race card whenever he smells political opportunism wafting in the air.

I can always tell when my critics have no substantive argument to make in their defense, for that’s when the shallow charges of “horrible cartoonist” and “racist” start to fly. The latter of which is a hilarious label on a guy who married outside his race and has a bi-racial child. But I guess when you’re tutoring a kindergarten class, you’ve got to leave the slide rule at home and bring the crayons instead.

Here are what some readers had to say about the cartoon:

Betty C.: “Don’t see any humor in this cartoon! Disgusting to say the least about the content!”

Debbie C.: “This is a racist hateful cartoon…there is freedom in this country to be able to say things like this, however, this is a bad bad cartoon.”

e-socrates: ”Oh no, politically incorrect speech! Time for the jackbooted boycott vigilantes to put a stomp to this! Go get ‘em Blackshirts!”

Bridget R.: “I’ll play devils advocate and ask anyone to give me an example of other presidents talking in the media about a local murder case. I’ll wait.”

Tom H.: “This is one of the most disgusting cartoons I’ve ever seen. The cartoonist should be deeply ashamed of himself.”

Nomorenicksleft: “If Zimmerman had only ordered a drone strike on Trayvon without due process, Obama would have rubberstamped it.”

WhiteDawg: “Breitbart was a despicable individual, but at least he came up with some of his own material. McCoy is just trying to illustrate Rush Limbaugh’s thoughts as offensively as possible.”

What do you think of the cartoon? Let us know by commenting below, or leaving a note on our Facebook page.

Last week, following Rush Limbaugh’s now famous comments about Sandra Fluke, our own conservative cartoonist Gary McCoy (view McCoy’s cartoons here) drew a controversial cartoon that has been widely criticized. I’ve posted some of the harsh comments we’ve received about the cartoon.

After receiving volumes of hate mail and some death threats, Gary wrote to me to explain the cartoon:

It’s my job to opine on the issues of the day. I’ll admit, the cartoon in question hit a little harder than I usually do, but here we had a 30 year old woman’s rights advocate, who will make on average $160,000/year after graduation, stating that she had to spend $3,000 over the last two years on birth control, when a trip to her local Planned Parenthood would keep her supplied for free. Or for a few bucks more a day, any local drug store would meet her needs. And on top of it, she thinks that a Jesuit university, which she enrolled in knowing full well that their private insurance doesn’t pay for contraceptives, as it goes against their religious morals, should abandon their beliefs just so she can advance the Obama health care plan, for which she also advocates.

Sandra Fluke side-by-side with McCoy's cartoon (via JimRomenesko.com)

And one major detail that the press, and most of the people spewing hate at me didn’t bother to notice or acknowledge, is that the woman in my cartoon A) doesn’t even look like Sandra Fluke (According to many of the people who critiqued me), and B) Isn’t even labeled Sandra Fluke. So basically, it’s a generic woman, saying what many ultra-liberal feminists have said before, specifically that government should stay out of their wombs, but still provide them with free birth control, which is the definition of hypocrisy.

On top of it, many who wrote me said the statement in the cartoon isn’t even something that Miss Fluke has said. So there you have it, a woman not labeled Sandra Fluke, who doesn’t look like Sandra Fluke, saying something that Sandra Fluke has apparently not said. Yet, I’m hit with everything from being labeled a misogynist, to personal threats for calling Sandra Fluke a “slut”. This sort of knee-jerk reactionism makes the Rockettes look like a Tennessee Waltz dance act.

One more thing… it struck me as deliciously ironic that many of the tolerant, compassionate liberals who took issue with my supposedly portraying Miss Fluke as a “slut” and “prostitute”, and with my lack of civility, did so by calling me every vulgar name in the book and making death threats against me (The latter emails go on file at my local police department).

But to summarize, I have the right, and the duty to editorialize, through my cartoons, on any subject currently in the news. That’s what I did. And I won’t back down from intimidation and threats from the same liberals who honor a vow of silence when it comes to denouncing Bill Maher for calling Sarah Palin a c*nt.