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National Rifle Association releases target practice game for kids

Gun Owners of America responds to outrage

Some media and public observers are shaking their heads and sighing at the National Rifle Association's latest public move.

One month after a tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 20 children, the NRA has released a target practice video game rated ages four and up.

The game, entitled Practice Range, says it offers access to news, educational content and safety tips on guns. The game also offers target practice with nine possible firearms, including an MK-11 sniper rifle and an AK-47.

NBC News noted the game's release comes after the NRA's Executive Vice President condemned video games for promoting violence.

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The game has no human targets, however, Think Progress argues the targets are shaped like coffins. At least, they're upright shapes with red areas where the head and heart are located on a human.

One comment on the games page in the Apple store calls the NRA "monsters."

The debate over the game comes at the same time as residents of Spooner, Wisconsin, reconsider whether it's a good idea to have a gun show at an elementary school. The local newspaper, the Spooner Advocate, reports that a gun show hosted at Spooner Elementary School for the last 20 years is causing a debate in the wake of the Newtown shooting. The Indianhead Rifle and Pistol Club, which hosts the event, is supporting the event on the grounds that the club donates some of the proceeds to the school.

In a discussion on the newspaper's Facebook page, some users posted they have always thought bringing guns to an elementary school was in poor taste.

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Gun associations, certainly the NRA, have not shied away from controversy in the past. They dove right into it this time and the media storm is already gaining speed.