NRA-endorsed shooting game gets pulled off iOS App Store
The NRA's own iPhone app was pulled from the Store this week following the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School and a torrent of negative press around the NRA and its lobbying efforts against gun control legislation in the United States.
NRA: Practice Range, a free game that allows people to shoot at targets with various guns including an AR-15, was taken off the iOS App Store this week. The game, originally developed by MEDL Mobile in 2013, was endorsed by the NRA, although according to a Polygon report the developer has distanced itself from the NRA: Practice Range app and is no longer affiliated with the NRA.
Since the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead, there has been a surge in activism around gun control. Lawmakers and the NRA have received the brunt of the backlash, with many companies actively distancing themselves from the NRA.
The app's disappearance comes after a handful of companies that previously gave discounts to NRA members publicly cut ties with the NRA, including several hotel chains, car rental services, insurance companies, and more.
MEDL Mobile did not respond to our request for comment on NRA: Practice Range, but the company told Polygon that it offloaded the game years ago and has no ties with the NRA.
"The company stopped working with the NRA in 2013," sales director Michael Campbell told Polygon. "The company was later sold in 2016 to new ownership and maintains no connections to or relationship with the NRA."
The game first launched in 2013, just weeks after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 28 dead, including 20 students aged 6 and 7. Its proximity to the shooting and its original rating of ages 4 and up led to a petition calling for the game's removal along with hundreds of negative reviews.
NRA: Practice Range game's rating later was changed to ages 12 and up before it was pulled off the App Store. The game is not currently featured anywhere on MEDL Mobile's website.
Apple, which faced its own anti-NRA boycott for supporting the NRA TV app, did not pull the app down itself and has not responded to calls from consumers to cut ties with the NRA.
