Ready, aim, misfire!
Exactly one month after the Newtown school massacre, the National Rifle Association has launched a free iPhone and iPad shooting game offering kids as young as 4 a chance to fire guns at coffin-shaped targets.
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The free game “NRA: Practice Range” is offered on iTunes and allows would-be snipers to choose a weapon to fire at an indoor gun range, an outdoor range or for skeet shooting practice.
The free guns include a Beretta M-9 handgun, a Colt M-16 assault rifle with 15-round clip or a Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun.
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For 99 cents extra, players can “unlock” higher-capacity guns similar to one Adam Lanza used in the Sandy Hook massacre, including AK-47 assault rifles and an M-11 sniper rifles.
Adding to the horror, Apple, whose credo is “enriching lives,” approved the manufacturer’s recommended age rating of 4 and up for the disturbing game.
In the game, shooters can take aim at clay ducks, or coffin-shaped targets with bull’s-eyes at head and chest level.
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The NRA-licensed game was designed by MEDL Mobile Inc.
In between target practice, young tykes can get “gun safety tips” like “always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction,” “stop shooting immediately if you think you have experienced a gun malfunction” and “use only the correct ammunition for your gun.”
It’s “the most authentic experience possible,” the gamemakers said, touting its real-life gunshot sounds and arsenal of free weapons.
It also offers the “right balance of gaming and safety education,” the NRA said, citing the link from the app to the lobby’s website.
Critics immediately blasted the powerful gun lobby, especially since the NRA itself blamed violent video games for contributing to Lanza’s deadly Dec. 14 rampage at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
“If the NRA is looking for a new app, they should download Google Earth, because they seem to be living on a different planet,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn also slammed the NRA for its timing.
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“One week after the Newtown massacre, the NRA blamed the media for causing gun violence, now they add more salt to wounds of victims with an app designed for children,” said Quinn.
“This is more evidence that the NRA does not care about protecting our children,” she said. “I cannot comprehend their insensitivity, if they had any decency they would retract this app immediately.”
Apple declined to comment on the app or its rating system.
The game also comes out just as Vice President Biden is expected to deliver an array of ideas to curb gun violence to President Obama. It also comes as the Daily News delivered nearly 127,000 signatures on an anti-gun petition to Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo.
NRA leader Wayne LaPierre opposes tightening gun laws and instead has recommended putting armed guards in all schools.
“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” LaPierre said one week after Lanza killed 26 students and staffers.
The game even left some NRA members uncomfortable.
“I support the NRA because I support the Second Amendment — but the idea of children having access to learning how to use these weapons is not a good thing,” said Efrain Gonzalez 3rd, 45, of the Bronx.
Gonzalez, who served in the Army during the Persian Gulf War, used M-16, M-203 and M-60 assault rifles in the military and said they have no place in the hands of kids, even if it’s just on an iPhone.
“No child should be able to have access to an app that teaches about guns, much like they shouldn’t have access to violent video games,” said Gonzalez.
“If a kid gets his hands on a weapon and thinks he knows how to use it, it could really end badly,” Gonzalez said.
“The law does say you’re allowed to teach someone how to use a rifle, but that should be for people over 21 with no prior convictions. Not for kids.”
Juan Ramirez, 28, of Brooklyn, who was shown the app at the West Side Rifle & Pistol Range in Chelsea, was also dubious about the NRA’s game.
“You would think the NRA would have a little more sensitivity and put a little more thought into releasing something like this,” Ramirez said. “It’s like they’re out of touch with the people.”
Parents also railed against the NRA, many finding it hypocritical of the gun organization to criticize violent video games then release its own shoot ’em up mobile app.
“The NRA used to have a message of teaching gun safety. That’s not the thinking anymore,” sad Gramercy Park dad, Matthew Murzin, 51.
“A general app around gun safety would be one thing. But teaching kids how to use guns? That sounds horrifying.”
Murzin’s 13-year-old son, Peter, had a one word description for the NRA app: “Stupid.”
“Why would we need to know how to shoot a gun?” Peter asked.
“It’s a person killer. Why would kids need to know how to use it?”
Mari Herrere, 37, a mother of three from Manhattan, said she was shocked the NRA would use a video game to foster interest in guns for young kids.
“It’s shocking that that even exists for young children,” Herrere said.
“That does not mean anything good for our future, and our kids are our future.”
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