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 Linda Thomas
twitter: @TheNewsChick
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Linda is the morning news anchor and features reporter for KIRO Radio. This is her local news blog, with an emphasis on social media, technology, Northwest companies, education, parenting, and anything else that grabs her attention.

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NRAapp.jpg
While criticizing the video game industry for its first-person shooter games, the National Rifle Association has released its own target practice app. They say it's educational for children as young as four. Yes, I realize I have a poor aim. (Screen grab from NRA Practice Range app for iPhone)

NRA target shooting app for kids as young as four years old

January 14, 2013 @ 4:19 pm (Updated: 8:32 am - 1/15/13 )

The National Rifle Association, which has been critical of the gaming industry in the debate surrounding potential gun control legislation, has launched its own target practice app.

Practice Range spits out facts like, "NRA programs train over 750,000 gun owners each year," and offers gun safety advice such as, "Know your target and what is beyond it."

After that, users are able to select their weapons. My only choice of firearm is the M9. It costs 99 cents to upgrade the basic firearm to a Beretta, a Browning or a Colt.

It also offers indoor, outdoor and skeet shooting modes. Fully loaded, I was set to begin shooting. I quickly discover I'm an awful aim.

According to the app ratings system, "Practice Range" is appropriate for users as young as 4 years old because it contains no objectionable material.

The NRA game "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," according to the description.

The NRA app has been in development for awhile, as a way to counteract what it sees the video game industry doing - "marketing of violence to our kids."

It is far milder than the first-person shooter games I've watched my 12-year-old son play. He tried the NRA's target practice and said it's "boring."

The Entertainment Software Association is a lobbying group for a number of major companies, including Electronic Arts and Microsoft.

These companies' games, including "Call of Duty," "Halo" and other "first-person shooter" games, have come under criticism in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut massacre last month.

The killer, Adam Lanza, was reportedly "obsessed" with video games. Police found thousands of dollars worth of violent video games while searching his home.

But the gaming industry says that violent crime, particularly among young men, has fallen since the early 1990s while video games have increased in popularity.

There are conflicting studies on the impact of video games and other screen violence.

Some conclude that video games can desensitize people to real-world violence or temporarily quiet part of the brain that governs impulse control.

Other studies report there is no lasting effect.

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (38)


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  • OceanPro wrote...
    Really Linda?
    January 15, 2013 11:14 am
    As if this is a big deal - little kids get their hands on the iPad and download inappropriate stuff and play games on devices that are not age appropriate all the time. Why don't you do a story on the millions of pre-teens that have Facebook accounts too? The minimum age requirment is 13 for Facebook....I guarantee there are many more dastardly things going on with pre-teens and facebook that with 4 year olds playing a digital version of what they already do at home. Is KIRO really going to start reporting on the possibility of people doing bad things with iPads or is this a slanted, liberal article? I think the latter.
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  • sambra27 wrote...
    OceanPro
    January 15, 2013 11:20 am
    I'm curious as to where you think there is an influx of Linda's opinion in this article, besides the opinion of her 12-year-old son saying the game is "boring"?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • OceanPro wrote...
    Uh...What does "By Linda Thomas" mean?
    January 15, 2013 11:26 am
    I assume either her or her Editor picked this story up and made the decision that it would be published by KIRO. I believe she and KIRO are better than this article.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sambra27 wrote...
    not the same thing
    January 15, 2013 11:46 am
    What a reporter stands for and what they report on are two different things. Again, I saw no influx of a liberal opinion injected into the article which you seem to say there is. Anderson Cooper for example is gay but it does not mean that he reports with an obvious pro-homosexual stance on every homosexual related story. I don't disagree that Linda is probably on the anti-gun side of the gun control argument but there is nothing in the article relating to anything anti-gun. This story is being reported and blogged about all over the nation. It's informative and nothing more.
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  • OceanPro wrote...
    Then maybe KIRO should
    January 15, 2013 11:52 am
    give credit to the reporter that actually wrote the article? Are we saying that Linda published an article and didn't give credit to the original writer? I thought so...re-writer. jeez - my point is that this article is poorly timed and definately 'left' and it is completely transparent. Again - I don't see an article about the damage of other apps kids play in iPads or the creepy poseurs 'friending' 12 year old girls on facebook...
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  • sambra27 wrote...
    OceanPro
    January 15, 2013 1:10 pm

    Agreed re: other damaging apps on facebook, other media sharing platforms, etc. and creepers.

    I don't know the rules of copyright when it come to stories such as this, or if copyright rules even apply, or if "copyright" is even the correct word. This seems such a generic article that no claim of originality can be placed on any one reporters article. Kind of like a movie review, the report is more based on the experience with the product.
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  • flipper wrote...
    Or..
    January 15, 2013 11:53 pm
    maybe KIRO should fire her and Ross and bring back Curley.
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  • TheNewsChick wrote...
    Sambra72
    January 15, 2013 3:28 pm
    Thank you. Let me pull back the curtain for a moment. With my new schedule I get to work at 2 a.m. I left work today at almost 2 p.m. because I'm working on a feature for tomorrow's radio show. I'm now working from home, writing a couple of stories for my blog. You single just restored my belief in what I do, and why I work so hard. Some people get it. You do. Thank you.
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  • TheNewsChick wrote...
    By LINDA THOMAS...
    January 15, 2013 3:18 pm
    Means, this is my blog. I write, research, produce all my stories. I do not have an editor, other than my friendly readers who point out typos. You are welcome to read, and welcome to click elsewhere if you don't find stories that appeal to you.
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  • TheNewsChick wrote...
    OceanPro
    January 15, 2013 3:15 pm
    I'm not saying it's a big deal. The NRA is front/center of a number of discussions going on around the country regarding gun violence since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. They release an app in the midst of this and that catches my attention. I tried the app. It's "tame" and my son thought it was "boring" as I mentioned in the article. So, I've explained my story...why don't you explain how this is a slanted, liberal article?
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  • mnpat wrote...
    A.J. great post, Ms. Thomas, please forward to your morning co-host for reflection.
    January 15, 2013 11:49 am
    "A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace." James Madison (1751-1836), Father of the Constitution for the USA, 4th US President Source: The Federalist No. 46.
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  • zounds wrote...
    The question I always ask when you are talking about protecting yourself from tyranny is.......
    January 15, 2013 12:08 pm
    Who are you gonna shoot?

    Your coworker, the National Guardsman?

    The cop who lives three doors down?

    The Army private who is the son of your best friend?

    Who?

    Or are we talking black helicopters and UN Troops?

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  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    tyranny doesn't always happen overnight
    January 15, 2013 3:14 pm
    A tyrannical government can do many things to achieve it's goal. A globalist tyrannical government might decide not to protect it's borders so that criminal cartels can have easy access to their market. This would lead to more crime, gang activity and drug trafficking, which would make the public more fearful and need of protection. By eliminating the Second Amendment, the tyrants would then have a monopoly on public safety., which is of course, their goal.

    So you ask "Who are you gonna shoot"? to protect yourself from tyranny? The bad guys, simple as that. If you can keep the bad guys at bay, you can keep the tyrants at bay. They work together.

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  • maxwell161 wrote...
    News?
    January 15, 2013 12:56 pm
    Of course this is listed as a newsworthy story for some reason, but the new game where shooters can take out the President of the NRA gets zero mention at all. The bias of the media has never been greater for everyone to see than it has over the last month or so.
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  • sambra27 wrote...
    maxwell161
    January 15, 2013 1:13 pm
    Was that game released by a well-known video game developer, or some nutjob independent game developer? This raises a different issue altogether that OceanPro alluded to, and that is there should be some sort of filter that restricts app development which promotes violence against a specific person.
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  • SMarti018 wrote...
    This is a story why?...
    January 15, 2013 3:13 pm
    Back when i was 4 i played duck hunter on the Nintendo... except in that game i held a life like gun and shot at living animals. I grew up just fine. Sensationalist Media is looking for a story. This one is a FAIL.
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  • flipper wrote...
    That reminds me...
    January 15, 2013 11:47 pm
    I need to download the app to my android and pay my annual dues to the NRA.
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