NRA App Panned By Malloy, Lawmakers
by Hugh McQuaid | Jan 15, 2013 6:43pm
(4) Comments | Commenting has expired
Posted to: CT Tech Junkie, Town News, Newtown
Dumb, insulting, outrageous, and tone deaf were all words Gov. Dannel P. Malloy used to describe the National Rifle Association following its release of a first person shooter app on the one month anniversary of the Newtown shootings.
Monday saw some of the families of the 26 victims who were killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings gather to start national dialogue on gun violence, mental health, and school safety.
It was also the day the NRA chose to release its new shooting app, called NRA: Practice Range. The free game, which is approved for children as young as four years old, lets users shoot at targets, some shaped like coffins.
“How dumb can you get? How insulting can you be? How outrageous can your behavior be? How tone deaf can you be? You can quote any one of those,” Malloy said after he was asked about the game at an unrelated press conference.
“The idea that they decided, on the one-month anniversary, to release that . . . I’ve been on the app. You can push a button and hear the sound of a gun going off. It’s clearly, you know, it’s offensive,” he said.
Malloy wasn’t the only Connecticut official critical of the gun lobby on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy released a statement suggesting that the group is “intent on continuing to insult the families of the victims of Sandy Hook.”
State Rep. Stephen Dargan also commented on the app at a press conference, calling it “in bad taste.”
The NRA did not immediately return calls for comment.
A progressive group called Courage Campaign is calling on Apple to remove the app from its iTunes store. It’s even started a petition for the app’s removal.
“Instead of coming to the table with constructive ideas to reduce gun violence, the NRA is instead developing a video game that glorifies guns and gun violence,” Adam Bink, director of online programs for the Courage Campaign, said in a press release.
Tags: NRA, app, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Stephen Dargan, rifle, Newtown, dh
(4) Comments
posted by: Joe Eversole | January 15, 2013 7:03pm
If Adam Blink is so set against things that glorify guns and gun violence, why isn’t he directing his anger at any of the following three movies: Django Unchained, Gangster Squad, or zero dark thirty? All glorify guns and gun violence. How about HALO 2 or Call of Duty, Black Ops II? Again, more glorified gun violence. Or is righteous indignation reserved only for the groups that oppose what your believe politically?
posted by: Fred 54 | January 15, 2013 8:51pm
Those movies were all produced prior to Sandy Brook. Lousy movies, though. The timing of the NRA release of its game, exactly one month after the massacre, is grossly insensitive. People are very upset about Sandy Brook, and if the NRA were smart, it would be quiet.
posted by: dano860 | January 15, 2013 11:33pm
It just came through that this wasn’t released by the NRA.
Need to do some more digging to see if it’s true.
posted by: DrHunterSThompson | January 17, 2013 12:14pm
The disdain for the NRA is simply remarkable - what an ignorant lot we are. The NRA offers for safety courses and awareness classes than you can count. And yes, they do have a position on the 2nd Amendment and the lobby very successfully on behalf of their membership.
The suggested an armed individual in every school and were torn up by every elected official you can think of. Yet communities are now assigning police officers to their schools that already hasnt done so - I don’t hear anyone criticizing them.
I suggest you all download the app and check it out prior to making a fool of yourself. It’s all about safety.
HST