Anti-NRA video game is more disturbing than you thought (updated)

Last night, Jason highlighted a new iPhone app from the National Rifle Association designed to entertain your fingers between texts with a little animated target shooting. Today, however, the liberal left is crying foul. (Update: The "NRA: Practice Range" app was released from third-party MEDL Mobile which claims the app is a "licensed product of the NRA. My call to the National Rifle Association to confirm whether the app is indeed an official product of the NRA and has thus far gone unanswered.)

An outraged Andrew Mach, a staff writer for NBC News writes:

Just weeks after the National Rifle Association forcefully blamed violent video games for gun violence, the gun-rights organization has released a new shooter game for kids as young as four.

NRA: Practice Range, a new app in the iTunes store, was released Sunday by the nation’s largest gun-industry lobby. It features a 3D-shooting range and offers users simulated target practice.

The game's launch comes one month after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which touched off a national debate over how to limit gun violence.

Unlike the NRA, NBC apparently doesn't differentiate between shooting this...

A shooting target (iTunes/NRA)

...And this:

A student of Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Conn. (AP)

To NBC and others not familiar with guns or crime statistics, shooting is shooting and whether you're shooting at a target or a human being, it's wrong.  Case in point:

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” asked one user known as Papershipsonfire. “The NRA complains about violent games and then releases one a week later. Sure you’re not shooting humans but does it really matter?”

“What a dumb move,” posted Mansonr6. “Good luck getting anyone to take your video game theory serious after this.”

True to form, however, haters are fighting back against the NRA with a video game of their own -- one that, as we've reported, allows gamers to shoot a supposed likeness of NRA President David Keene in the head.

(Photo: Encyclopedia Dramatica)

Glenn mentioned this disgusting "game" on his radio program this morning and its proponents couldn't be happier: "Congrats! Glenn Beck quoted this post on the radio this morning," they wrote.

"You're a f***ing legend," another admirer wrote to the game's creator.

But symbolically taking down the head of the NRA is only a "bonus level" in a larger game -- one that's a detailed simulation of the actual Sandy Hook Massacre.

"I really want to shoot Wayne LaPiere in the head in a video game because I'm pissed about how he and others on his side have blamed violence on video games," the game's creator wrote.  "This'll ultimately be a bonus level in the final game, but I want to get it done and released ahead as quickly as possible, in part because I wanna see the man wet his pants on television and bitch about being victimized in a video game."

The game's creator, identified by the screen name "gizmo01942" sought out help from other game programmers to create a realistic reenactment of the carnage.  He/she is also responsible for a similar video game, "The Clown Prince Rises," which was a grisly game reenacting the Aurora Theater Shooting. Why?  Because they think it's cool:

Once again I'm doing this as my own way to deal with the events, and releasing only because it will entertain you guys, and any controversy it generates will serve as a nifty sociological experiment.

I won't include more details about this sick game, but to give you a taste of just how sick it is, here's an excerpt of the creator's soundtrack posted to YouTube as a "teaser" for fans.  (Warning: Very disturbing audio)

You want to talk about mental health and violent video games?  How about we discuss the mental health of a gamer who describes the simulated murder of a classroom of kindergarteners is "nifty" and the people who admire him/her for it?

You want something to be outraged about, NBC?  How about we start with that?