Gov. Malloy Rips Controversial New NRA App

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ripped the controversial new National Rifle Association app for iPhones that helps young children to learn how to shoot.

Those using the app, which was released on Sunday near the one-month anniversary of the Newtown massacre, can fire military-style firearms like AK-47s and M-16s.

“How dumb can you get?” Malloy asked. “How insulting can you be? How outrageous can your behaviors be? How tone deaf can you be? You can quote any one of those.”

Talking to reporters outside his office at the state Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, Malloy added, “I’ve been on the app, and you can push a button and hear the sound of a gun going off. It’s offensive. I can assure you they didn’t call me before they chose the date.”

Malloy also said that he favors many of the items passed Monday night by the New York state Senate in Albany for stricter gun control in the post-Newtown era.

“We have talked about limiting magazines to a number less than 30,” Malloy said. “The assault weapons ban was 10. They’ve gone to 7. Sounds good to me.”

“They have broadened the definition of assault weapons,” Malloy said of the New York bill.  “I’m trying to understand that exactly to make sure I understand correctly what they’ve done, but it makes sense to me. They’ve taken a step in the direction of universal gun permitting and background checks. On the background checks, it certainly makes perfect sense to me.”

He added, “Generally, it sounds good to me.”

The first meeting of Malloy’s special committee, chaired by the mayor of Hamden, will be at 10:30 a.m. on January 24 in Room 2C of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The committee is expected to issue an interim report by March 15. The legislative “super committee” on guns – a separate task force – will be meeting Friday afternoon for the first time.

“My analysis of the New York legislation leads me to believe that some things will be done very rapidly,” Malloy said. “Other things may take additional time. … There will be plenty of time to get this thing done.”

A liberal group known as the Courage Campaign is calling upon Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of Apple, to drop the app from the NRA.

“This is a classic example of everything that is wrong with the NRA,” a Courage Campaign spokesman said in a statement. “Instead of coming to the table with constructive ideas to reduce gun violence, the NRA is instead developing a video game that glorifies guns and gun violence. It is yet another shameful example, in a long list of shameful examples, of the destructive role the NRA plays in reducing gun violence and making our schools, communities and streets safer. We are calling on Apple to reject this app. It has no business being in the hands of kids across this country.”