NRA Releases Target Practice Game for Kids Aged Four and Older

The gun rights group had blamed violent video games for influencing last month's Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting

The National Rifle Association has come under fire for just releasing a target practice game that's rated for kids four and older only weeks after publicly blaming violent video games for influencing events like the mass-shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

The game, called NRA: Practice Range, is free on iTunes for use on devices like the iPhone and iPad. It boasts of featuring nine firearms, three immersive shooting ranges, three distinct difficult levels, analog and gyroscope game controls, according to the iTunes description. It offers safety tips and information on gun laws. Under the iTunes ratings system, apps for age four and older contain "no objectionable material."

The game "instills safe and responsible ownership through fun challenges and realistic simulations," the description says. "It strikes the right balance of gaming and safety education, allowing you to enjoy the most authentic experience possible."

So far, the only reviews of the game on iTunes are critical of the politics of the NRA for releasing it. "Hypocrites," one reviewer writes. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Another reviewer writes, "Really?" and goes on to say, "What a dumb move. Good luck getting anyone to take your video game theory serious after this. "

Via USA TODAY and iTunes

What's your reaction to the NRA releasing the target practice game for kids four and older?

[Food4thoughts]

Are we going to start arming kids in school as well now?

[PNWest]

I heard that Smith & Wesson is coming out with a new safer gun to honor the NRA supporters in Washington. It's called "The Congressman" - it doesn't work and you can't fire it.

[Food4thoughts]

@PNWest
Ziiiiiiiiinnnggg

[dances-weebles]

@PNWest cute

[SavageMazx]

@PNWest lololol

[Rocker]

@PNWest - Dadgum, I like that one!!!!!!!!!!

[RobertJHarsh]

AWESOME! Next week need to get shooting classes funded in schools. Every high schooler needs to be proficient with a handgun and a rifle.

[WilliamWallace]

Our schools around us have trap shooting teams. My oldest child enjoys it.

[cleverusername]

Actually gun safety classes should be taught. As someone said the cat is out of the bag. Guns are not going away. Isn't it time to talk and teach gun safety,responsibility, and basics?

[RobertJHarsh]

@cleverusername I know back in the day, many school districts in Texas taught rifle and handgun shooting as well as safety as well. But as the cities got bigger, the communists took over and spouted propaganda that guns are bad. This trend needs to be reversed.

[JustTheFacts]

Back in 50's and 60's ... schools where in live had "Rod and Gun" club at the high school level. You were allowed to bring a firearm to school ... imagine that ... lol.

If any game turned our kids into mindless killers it definitely had to be Nintendo's "Duck Hunt" with the zapper lightgun ... lmao! Turned me into a duck mass murder ... hehe!

[tomincali]

when i was in junior high we shot rifles right at the school here in ca. yes firearms being used in cadet class. funny no one was ever shot or killed.
even had target practice right in the classroom using .22 minicaps.

[Sharpshooter]

"I think that those of us who look at this problem have repeatedly said that responsible gun owners, people who have a gun for protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship, they don't have anything to worry about,"

That's the line from the White House...

Sportsmanship like shooting at targets? What's the beef?

Don't bother I know..... It's Guns, it's the NRA and it's USA Today... that says it all.

[GeneticBlue]

There's already a million shooting games kids can play. Why make a big deal out of this (sub-par) one?

[AceLuby]

Because they have been railing on the video game and entertainment industry as the 'real cause' of all of these massacres.

[GeneticBlue]

@AceLuby Good point. I won't pretend to know the psychology or anything, but I don't believe videogames are the cause of someone going on a shooting spree. But I could see how somebody with that point of view would take a "target practice" game over a military FPS.

[frigginhell]

For ages 4 and above is kind of a joke. It's a gateway game. Next thing you know we'll have 5 year olds hooked on call of duty. Indoctrination to guns through video games, my oh my.

[Denizen_Kate]

"... gateway game ... " Good one!:)

[2ndcharm]

"Next thing you know we'll have 5 year olds hooked on call of duty." You've obviously haven't played any of the recent online shooters, those damn kids are already flooding the lobbies with their incessant chatter

[frigginhell]

@2ndcharm it was meant to be ironic XD...

[Clarke12]

it is up to parents to monitor their own kids regarding their gaming habits, especially at a young age. don't buy the game if you do not agree with it.

[Dan_Tien]

I don't consider a target practice game a "violent video game" unless the targets are people.

[CaryNickel]

75 years ago, kids under the age of 10 routinely went out into the fields with a .22 or .410 shotgun to bring home meat for the pot...and there were no school shootings. I even read accounts of kids who had to walk in from the farm carrying their trusty long arm with them so they could hunt for a rabbit or squirrel on the way home. I dare say raising kids with real firearms, and exposing them to the real damage they can do to small game, developed respect for firearm and safety. Contrast that with the indiscriminate violence perpetuated by today's movies, tv shows, and video games, and I can easily assert that kids were better off 75 years ago.

[cpeter133]

My mother was born in 1920, and her brother was born 4 years later. Not once did her father ever take them out into a field and show them how to shoot--and he was a decorated hero of WW1. He would never have approved such a thing.

[dances-weebles]

@cpeter133 pete... my mother and father both taught us. we were hunting with a .22 and a 410 when i was little. we were each given 3 shells and we had to come home with either all three, or something to eat to account for each shot fired. if we didn't, that meant that we were shooting trees, or didn't have a clear shot to make certain of what we were shooting at and we got our asses tanned.

[cpeter133]

@dances-weebles Nothing personal, but your parnts were weird. Not even seasoned hunters necessarily bag 1 out of 3 shots. Olympians arent always going to hit their targets.

[marine1]

@dances-weebles I thought ass tanning ruins a person for life, wow i must have been mistaken?

[dances-weebles]

@cpeter133 my parents were hill billies from west virginia. once a year we'd all practice our skills. my uncle lit matches which had been stuck in the dirt ban, with a .22 with a peep sight from 50 ft. away. as i said, if you miss your shot, then you never had a shot and should never have pulled the trigger. we'd get a whippin' for that.

[MarkJM]

Better to have video games that involve shooting targets than video games that involve shooting toons (toons are video game characters)....

[thejimbo]

Most kids would find the target game boring after a few rounds and go back to war games...

[tomincali]

looking back a few years and see how many toy guns were selling. cap guns and fake autos.only thing missing was not too many mass killings.

in those days every kid was on some kind of pill.

[MarkJM]

The only thing I would be critical of here is that it really doesn't give the user a "real feel" of firing a handgun/rifle. If the NRA wanted to provide a more realistic experience. They would develop this game for the consoles (i.e. Nintendo Wii, PS3, XBOX360, etc.). That would better train the young.

[Zazziness]

This is what happens when you put Ted Nugent in charge of something other than bear baiting.

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

And your problem with this is?

[PoliticalSpice]

@Neo_NtheMatrix My problem with it is the hypocricy of them naming video games as being responsible for violence and then releasing a video game to that involves weapons training. If yhey hadn't blamed video games for violence they wouldn't look like hypocrites...

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

@PoliticalSpice - So do you think all video games are the problem? Or do you think it is only certain video games? If you are like me, then you wouldn't blame any video games. On that point I don't agree with the NRA. However, I do make a distinction in the difference between the type of video game the NRA released and the type of video games they erroneously blamed.

[PoliticalSpice]

@Neo_NtheMatrix I don't blame video games. I blame the people who do the vilence and thosr who edicate them, parents, teachers and peers. I blame a bad healthcare system that fails to treat mentally unbalanced folks. Ultimately people are responsible for their own actions.

But I hold NRA to that standard as well. Faced with a tragic circumstance they did just what those who blame guns instead of the person shooting the gun did, they sought to change the subject by blaming something else, and while I do not blame guns, if blame is between guns or video games guns are more the culprit. Don't get me wrong, I do not back gun control, but NRA are a bunch of hypocrites, and I don't take a side based on party or organization. I take a side based on who is right or wrong on a particular issue. On this thing here NRA are wrong.

[BelinKS]

I think kids need to learn actual gun safety. Not the term Biden is now using. Calling what they are trying to do gun safety instead of the real terminology "gun contro."
If this game is target practice with gun safety measures put in to educate, I do not think it is hypocritical. The NRA was referring to violent games where people shoot other people to get ahead in the game. This is not the same thing. I have seen these very violent video games. Not in the same league.

[Zazziness]

Tell me, what animal is that target outline intended to represent?

[Sharpshooter]

@Zazziness The jackass.... what do you think?

It actually appears to be a computer simulated derivation of the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Standard Training & Qualification Target.

The target audience is kids who by the way have probably seen the first person shooter games with "PEOPLE" as targets.

The narrow mindedness of hoplophobes always borders on hypocrisy...

"It's the Guns" they cry NOT video games. Until the evil NRA comes out with a video game...

Then "The targets are shaped like people...."

If the game was tossing warm milk balloons at a circle painted on the ground the cry would be about the environmental impact of heating the milk and how it effects to soil.

Bottom line.... Hoplophobia is the irrational fear of guns, with emphasis on IRRATIONAL.

[Zazziness]

@Sharpshooter Dude. I used to produce first-person shooters back when we'd debate "Are there enough exploded intestines at the kill shot or do we need more?" I've never said it's not the games. In fact, I think our forms of entertainment are indeed a part of the problem. One of the reasons I've always lobbied for ratings on games.

[Sharpshooter]

@Zazziness Dude? Now I'm a dude?

" I've never said it's not the games." I never said you did. As for the games being PART of the problem.... I think it's a bit more than " a part " but the hoplophobes in government aren't even concerned with looking in that direction.

My son had many of those first person shooters... he knew that some of them were off limits in my house and presence... I don't need the dreams those play images bring back up. I spent a lot of time fighting them off and don't look forward to those long nights.

THOSE games are too real, but not surrealistic enough. Blow the crap out of attacking purple balls or orange cubes... add as much gore as you want to those. Using "people" as targets and glamorizing the game is desensitizing the player; great idea for someone going into combat as the first few minutes won't seem so strange but horrible for someone with a limited grasp on reality.

Ratings? How about we simply ban them.... Declare them pornography and ban them. There is no redeeming social value to most of them. Let's see how strong the First Amendment is.

[Zazziness]

@Sharpshooter No, games are just a part of the problem because Japan is as addicted to violent video games as the U.S. but they do not have the same real life shooting massacres that we have. As for banning certain games instead of just rating them so people can make informed decisions? This is what I mean when I say it seems the gun enthusiasts aren't very supportive of freedom unless it has to do with bullet hugging.

[John_Matrix]

It's a target shooting game and it wasn't made for kids like this crapily written article suggests. It's simply rated appropriate for those ages and up due to it's content. Even if it had been intended for kids you're shooting targets... at a range. What's next, a bunch of idiots getting pissed at Duck Hunt?

[Cheenoguy]

Yeah because that target isn't based on the human body.
NRA's new tag line should be
"Creating tomorrow's school shooters today."

[thejimbo]

I don't exclusively blame video games for all the violent atrocities that happen in America, however I will say ....observing a 12 year old playing Call of Duty and yelling HEAD-SHOT should not be part of his vocabulary. His parents use no discretion on what the kid has in his video game library - however I do know another family that uses extreme discretion and will not even let their 12 year old play the ULTIMATE FIGHTING GAME. The degrees of parenting are severely inconsistent here in America.

[stepped_in_it]

@jamesmitchell I don't think any rational person is blaming video games. Many believe it a combination of video games, irresponsible gun owners, irresponsible parents and media hype (among other things).
I just have to think back to when kids were kids and parents were parents. When kids not only went outside to play, but, were told to do so! We played "war" and "killed" each other....all too often. We were head responsible for our actions and found the consequences for "fibbing" were much greater than telling the truth. Parents didn't try to "worm" out of responsibility's by using the term "it was an accident, it not my fault".
All I can say about all this is WE, as parents, have failed badly.

[Cheenoguy]

@jamesmitchell
I don't think violent video games create violent people, but violent people's violent behavior and desires are exacerbated by them.
The term "head shot" should not be a phrase any non-police officer/soldier should be using on anything close to a regular basis.

[PayThatCEO]

@stepped_in_it

We were also shielded from the ugliness of the adult world. We didn't sit around and discuss the presidential elections with our parents. Our TV's weren't tuned to 24 hour news. Our radios didn't spew political hatefulness every time we got in the car. We were allowed to be children. No, we were expected to be children.

Saw an article "how to discuss the Newtown shooting with your child" WTF? Such a topic shouldn't be a discussion with a young child unless that child was present at the event. Turn the damn news off when your kid is in the room. Kids don't need to know about the horrible and frightening things that go in our world. They haven't the maturity to understand violence or war or all the other nasty things that WE, the adults in their lives, have created.

ALL of us, not just the parents or video games or guns, but ALL of us have created these shooters because we've created the environment in which they've been born and raised. We are reaping what we've sown.

[stepped_in_it]

@PayThatCEO Very well said. I'm willing to repeat this "mantra" to approx 30 million "parents" if your willing to "mantra" to the other approx 30 million....;-)

[Your_Name_Here]

I think it's a good idea. It brings out the stupid comments from people who think that everyone should be locked in cages to do nothing except vote for Liberal Democrats and pay taxes and support welfare scum that will produce more of the same. Shit happens, deal with it and put the blame where it should go, on the idiot who did the shooting. I had toy guns as a kid then joined the military and played with guns and explosives then went to work for an explosives and military ordnance company but still haven't killed anyone. I don't own a gun right now but maybe I should run right out and buy one to see if it immediately turns me into a psychotic mass murderer.How long does that take?

[PNWest]

Who cares - it's a stupid video game.

[Mbjhug]

It is horribly hypocritical of the NRA to make this game. They blame violence in the media for the real life violence, but then turn around and make a "violent" video game. To me, this says that they WANT more kids to be violent. Virtually anything to do with shooting a gun is violent. Even in self defense and survival, it is violent no matter how justified it is.

That being said, there is still no link between video games and violence, and this video game is far from the real thing. The only thing I can foresee the youngn's getting better at are their reflexes. That and this DOES give some good safety tips.

[Sharpshooter]

The game is not violent unless one applies your mistaken standard... "Virtually anything to do with shooting a gun is violent."

The game involves shooting targets and unless you're a really really committed tree hugger, punching holes in paper isn't violent and punching virtual holes in virtual paper isn't even virtually violent.

If you think of a gun as a weapon only, you're oversimplifying matters and can arrive at your conclusion. But a gun is NOT only a weapon.

First it's a machine, a mechanism that performs a specific task. Some machines are made to be as inexpensive as possible, guns I wouldn't consider owning, much less shooting.

Some machines are made for efficiency, in the case of a gun, the purpose is to precisely deliver kinetic energy over distance. Transmitting kinetic energy in the form of a bullet precisely into a paper target 2/3rd of a mile away requires a very well made machine. Add in the skill necessary for a man or woman to consistently hold the machine to allow it to do that and you have a very impressive feat, probably more difficult than hitting a 90mph fastball.

Some machines are made to be functional and beautiful. For example: http://mistercrew.com/files/2010/11/hh_5.jpg

A Holland and Holland Royal Side by Side Shotgun.... About $100,000 give or take a few hundred bucks. Most of these are treated and traded like fine art, growing in value as years pass. Still it is a 12 gauge shotgun that handles perfectly for hunting birds or shooting sporting clays.

Violent? It could be so misused. It shoots the same ammunition that a police riot gun does so I guess you could twist the purpose into that angle.

The point is... gun ownership is a RIGHT affirmed by the constitution. Responsibility is the norm among gun owners, NOT the exception. Teaching children to shoot is the best way to assure them to be gun safe as they learn about an come to respect the power they hold.

It's NOT all violent... Sporting Clays is a legitimate and widely pursued sport with shotguns. Target Shooting is an Olympic Sport and again one practiced widely. Can someone misuse a gun? Certainly and WE ARE OBLIGATED to come down on those people like a ton of bricks. No responsible gun owner would ever fight a law that punishes someone who uses a gun in the commission of a crime.

If the goal is to stop crime, the focus should be on the criminal and his actions... somehow we don't seem to do that, I guess it's easier to vilify a machine than a person.

[Zazziness]

@Sharpshooter "But a gun is not only a weapon."
Yes, I've heard they make great lawnmowers and channel changers, too. Of COURSE a gun is only a weapon. That is its sole reason for existence.

[Mbjhug]

@Sharpshooter You seem pretty passionate about firearms, and that's cool, but guns ARE violent. They are made to kill. You know, take life from a living thing? Sure you could shoot paper targets (trains for accuracy in specific points) or clay pigeons (trains for accuracy in moving targets) and say it isn't TOTALLY violent. You could also say a revolver could be used as a starting signal to a race. So long as the gun is angled correctly, it isn't violent. That said, I can't tell you how much time it has saved me doing the dishes, or folding the laundry. I don't know what I would do without it.

Your post and this game reeks of NRA propaganda.

[Sharpshooter]

@Mbjhug Could you PLEASE show me a violent gun?

The Holland and Holland Royal was made to kill?

Punching holes in paper or breaking clay birds is violent?

It is YOUR assumption that makes any of these violent.

Following your line of "reason" Have you considered how violent your kitchen knives are? They COULD be used to kill and dismember someone... Jeffery Dalmer did that.

AND your freezer is also violent because you COULD use it to store those parts.

Oh and the frying pan to hit or cook.... the Spatula... your shoelaces....

NRA Propaganda? Don't worry, Hoplophobia is seldom fatal, you have a better chance of being killed by your violent Iphone... it could be used to call a hitman or used as a bludgeon or to buy knives or ..... must suck to be afraid of inanimate objects.

[Drake_Burrwood]

@Mbjhug
You know that those horrible "made to kill" assault rifles, weren't.
If you killed an enemy combatant, oh well thems the breaks. BUT..
They were officially designed to (1) incapacitate,(2) wound, so the enemy would be forced to waste supplies on disabled soldiers. So even the military knows better than to say that guns are designed to kill.

---Ask yourself why an OCD personalty used a random number of rounds to kill children.

---Ask people who attempted to commit suicide with a gun in front of witnesses, you may surprised how many can answer you, because they relied on the "fact" that "guns are designed to kill people".
---Many handguns, not all, ARE designed to take down persons, but that doesn't mean kill. They may, but the difference between a "gun nut" and a rogue predator.. The gun nut calls emergency response and the rogue lets them bleed to death. A type of handgun that is actually made to shoot at people is one fifth the lethality of a longarm made to take down prey of several hundred pounds.

[cpeter133]

You can't condemn shooting games and then come out with a shooting game; it's hypocritical. But then, the NRA isn't known for clear reasoning.

[CommonSense]

I don't object to the game, I don't object to the right to bear arms, I do object to the hypocrisy.
Why can't the NRA just defend gun rights without itself turning into a fear-mongering organization? They should quit pointing fingers and instead point out that even the most 'secure' police states occasionally have a massacre (by someone other than the police state). Blaming video games, the mentally ill, or television makes them just as bad as the people blaming guns. Who should we blame? That's obvious. Blame the criminals who commit these acts of violence.