Adam Gabbatt brings us this lively dispatch from an "NRA university" class offered this afternoon: 
 
 The "NRA university" held a class at CPAC just now, providing keen students with a series of figures and phrases and commanding them to go forth and spread the word. 
 
 The session sought to play down the links between guns and crime by dispelling what the NRA said were "gun control myths." 
 
 An NRA member told the crowd that one of the myths was that requiring all guns and ammunition to be registered would lead to less gun violence. "Registration will not do anything but prohibit law abiding citizens" from their right to bear arms, we learned. 
 
 The lecturer also revealed that "guns are involved in 0.5% of accidental deaths in the US" and that "you're more likely to from a hammer than you are from an assault weapon". 
 
 Assault weapons were discussed too. "I'm sure when you guys think of an assault weapon, this is what you think of," the NRA man said. He then played a 20 second clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger firing a machine gun in the film "Predator". This was contrasted with a clip of several people firing single rounds from AR-15 semi automatic-style weapons, prompting laughter. 
 
 A woman from the NRA (the Guardian did not manage to get names) then took to the lectern to announce that "we're currently in the fight of our lives for out second amendment rights, right now." 
 
 "Why is the NRA successful?" she asked. The answer was "because gun owners in this country are so passionate". The NRA has around four million members. The population of the US is roughly 313m. 
 
 "The NRA did everything possible" to try and defeat Obama, the lecturer said, but try as they might they could not win over young people. "The other side is winning in the game to get young voters." 
 
 It is the job of NRA university graduates to change that. ||||| Eric Draper Photography National Harbor, Md. — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin just delivered a barnstorming speech here at the Conservative Political Action Conference, proving once again that, despite being semi-retired and semi-irrelevant, the "Mama Grizzly" can work a crowd better than almost anyone else in the GOP. 
 
 Here are the 10 best lines: 
 
 1. "More background checks? Dandy idea Mr. President. Should've started with yours." 
 
 2. On her husband, Todd Palin:"He's got the rifle, I've got the rack." [Pulls out Big Gulp] 
 
 3. "Mr. President, we admit it. You won. Accept it. Now step away from the teleprompter and do your job." 
 
 4. "We can't just ignore, though, that we just lost a big election. Yeah. Came in second. Out of two ... Second position on a dog sled team is where the view never changes and the view ain't pretty." 
 
 5. "We don't have leadership coming out of Washington. We have reality television." 
 
 6. To College Republicans:"You've got to be thinking Sam Adams, not drinking Sam Adams." 
 
 7. "If these experts keep losing elections, keep raking in millions, if they feel that strongly about who should run in this party they should buck up and run or stay in the truck. The architects can head on back to the Lone Star State and put their name on the ballot." [Clearly this is a reference to Karl Rove] 
 
 8. "The next election is 20 months away. Now is the time to furlough the consultants, and tune out the pollsters, send the focus groups home and toss the political scripts. Because if we truly know what we believe, we don't need professionals to tell us." 
 
 9. To Washington consultants:"Get over yourself. It's not about you." 
 
 10."Barack Obama promised the most transparent administration ever. Barack Obama — you lie!" 
 
 Watch the full speech below:
– Sarah Palin returned to the national spotlight at CPAC today to roundly criticize President Obama and fire potshots at the Republican establishment, NBC News reports. In her first major appearance since Fox News, Palin slammed Obama time and again: "Mr. President, we admit it, you won—now step away from the teleprompter, and do your job!" she said. She also dinged him on his golfing, his canceling of White House tours, and his proposal to broaden background checks for gun buyers. "Dandy idea, Mr. President—should've started with yours!" Her talk received the most raucous and frequent ovations of the entire conference, the Guardian reports. She saved some of her folksy (or is it kitschy?) ire for the GOP, calling on the party to embrace a populist vision: "Now is the time to furlough the consultants, and tune out the pollsters, send the focus groups home, and toss the political scripts," she said. And she speared new conservative super PACs designed to weed out more conservative candidates for more electable ones. Her talk had humor, too: She sipped a Big Gulp in a clear jab at New York's anti-soda campaign, and tossed off a line regarding her Christmas gift for husband Todd: "He's got the rifle, I've got the rack." (Business Insider runs down the most "awesome" lines of Palin's speech.)