The US National Rifle Association (NRA) has been roundly criticized for launching a shooting game just one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.
The NRA’s target range game for iPhone and iPad has caused widespread outrage, especially as it has been approved as suitable for children as young as four.
The game, which simulates a shooting practice, allows users to shoot at coffin-shaped targets and there are paid upgrades available for users to fire off AK-47s and M16s. It offers nine different firearms and three shooting ranges.
There have been growing calls for gun law reform in the US after 26 children and teachers died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Critics of the NRA say that the launch of this game will only add to the pressure on the White House to take action.
US Vice-President Joe Biden is expected to make recommendations on gun control to the White House shortly while President Barack Obama has announced he will lay out his plans for tackling gun violence later this week.
The NRA: Practice Range app says it: “…offers a 3D shooting game that instills safe and responsible ownership through fun challenges and realistic simulations. It strikes the right balance of gaming and safety education, allowing you to enjoy the most authentic experience possible.”
The New York Daily News slammed the new game in an article headlined “Game over for the NRA” where it accused the NRA of “criminal callousness.”
The paper said: “[The NRA] took a brief break from stoking record gun sales — by perpetuating the fiction that the feds are going to take everyone’s guns away — to unveil a free game for smartphones. Players choose their weapon — including illegal fully automatic rifles, for a mere 99 cents extra — aim and fire.
“They shoot at targets shaped like coffins, with red bull’s-eyes at head and heart level. And the NRA would have us believe that assault rifles have a purpose other than to kill human beings?”
It also accused the NRA of “spitting on the graves” of the Newtown massacre victims.
On the iTunes store the customer reviews on display were also critical of the new game.
Papershipsonfire wrote: “Is this some kind of sick joke?…I hope this gets pulled off the App Store.”
The video game industry has defended the use of gun violence in its games, saying that any attempt to regulate digital media was futile.
International Game Developers Association chairman Daniel Greenberg said the government should not be “scapegoating” the video game industry for society’s ills.
He said: “Censoring violent comic books did not reduce juvenile delinquency or increase literacy, it decimated the production of one of the few kinds of literature that at-risk youths read for pleasure. Censoring video games could have similar unintended consequences that we cannot currently foresee.”
Via: BBC