Is Virtual Target Practice Appropriate for Children?

The National Rifle Association (NRA) thinks so, but not everyone agrees. Under fire from critics, Apple changed the NRA’s iOS app Practice Range rating from 4+ to 12+ earlier this month, acknowledging its “Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence,” though the app only uses inanimate objects for its targets.

This new age-restriction isn’t enough for some who decry the app’s gun selection, which features the controversial AK47. While some critics want Apple to shoot the age limit up to 17+, others want it taken out of the store altogether.

Wherever you stand on the issue, it’s hard to ignore the timing of the app’s release. Did the NRA want the bad press that would inevitably come from pedaling a gun app for children only slightly older than those killed in the recent Sandy Hook school shooting, or was this just pure stupidity, as Gizmodo suggests?