The organiser of the Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest that ended in a deadly shoot-out has said she had no regrets hosting the event - and claims it probably saved lives.

Pamela Geller said she planned similar contests to the one in Garland, near Dallas, Texas, but would be wearing a bulletproof vest.

"I will continue to speak in defence of freedom until the day I die," Ms Geller said, as a grim-looking personal security guard hovered nearby. "It's just that simple. It's not even a choice. It's a calling."

Ms Geller has always hired armed security guards to protect the scores of events she has spearheaded across the US in recent years to decry Islamic extremism.

But the furore over Sunday's shooting in Garland has led to a specific threat against her, posted on a website related to the Islamic State (IS) group, and the New York Police Department is taking it seriously. Now she does not travel anywhere without protection.

Ms Geller, 56, said she believed she saved lives by hosting the contest because the two Muslim gunmen shot dead by police would have picked another soft target and killed innocent civilians.

"Would you regret saving lives?" she said.

A master of rhetoric and clearly comfortable in the spotlight, the former media executive shifted easily from charming to combative. Her critics have called the cartoon contest needlessly provocative, practically an invitation for violence.

But Ms Geller argued that any blame should be focused on extremists who cannot be criticised or lampooned without resorting to violence.

"Cartoons are political critique. It's a cartoon," she said. "Is that what we want to outlaw? We want to outlaw humour? We want to outlaw comedy? If you want to know who rules over you, find out who you cannot criticise."

Her activities have prompted the Southern Poverty Law Centre to add her to its extremist files, calling her "the anti-Muslim movement's most visible and flamboyant figurehead".

After 9/11, Ms Geller said she dived deeply into the internet to learn more about the threat of terrorism.

She joined a burgeoning online community obsessed with jihad and terrorism and began opining in the comments section.

Now she has nearly 68,000 Twitter followers and a devoted army of virtual supporters for her websites, books and public events.

As head of an organisation called the American Freedom Defence Initiative, she took in £623,000 in donations in 2013, paying herself a salary of £125,000, according to tax filings.

Donations pour in from the PayPal button on her website, she said, adding that she has "no idea" how much money she has raised.

Records do not list donors, but a recent report by the Centre for American Progress, a think-tank in Washington, said Ms Geller's top donors included the Fairbrook Foundation, which supports a number of mainstream conservative groups.