iPhone sniper app released on day of Obama inauguration

Raindog (New user):

The "sick puppy" market is definitely out there. more is the pity.

Me In Oz (User):

Pretty useless app without the M110 !

AndyCee (New user):

Perhaps Apple will release a 'Rifle Nano' to be compatible with the app.

theRichard (New user):

its a bit sad that this comparison has been made. the release of this product has no literal tie to the inauguration.. idiots. for years, there have been ballistic programs available that do the same thing - I myself have one on my OLD O2 XDA II!

Tin (User):

Sounds like a perfectly acceptable app to me... Not exactly a major market for it really though... Especially marketed in the iTunes store.

Gloucestre (New user):

This journalist is yet another scare mongering scandal junky.
This kind of software is readily available but requires a certain level of knowledge and time to use properly and is really only suitable for military or target shooting applications.
Why is it that everytime something firearms or shooting related appears in the press the result is a hysterical finger pointing piece such as this?

Sierra (New user):

Agree Gloucestre! A typical fear-inspiring piece that allows people to transfer their aggression to the unknown "others" who "might" go on a killing spree. Complete waste of bandwidth.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Gloucestre:
This journalist is yet another scare mongering scandal junky.

So why bother to participate in the thread if that's what you believe?



Quoting Gloucestre:
Why is it that everytime something firearms or shooting related appears in the press the result is a hysterical finger pointing piece such as this?

How does that work?

mono (New user):

"really only suitable for military or target shooting applications"!
Ummm!!!...ooOK! Was that the equivelant of 'shooting yourself' in the foot? I would hate to be on the recieving end of your 'friendly fire'!

I don't think every "firearms and shooting related" event causes "hysterical finger pointing". I believe that these types of events that make it to the press are generaly bad and tainted with blood and or death. "Hysteria" and "finger pointing" is not the reaction. It is outrage. These things should only be available to civilized government sanctioned, trained and diciplined soldiers, not the citizens! Why do 'sporting hunters' want this technology? Where is the sport? Wouldn't that be the equivelant of cheating?...shooting fish in a barrel! Boring.

I think the angle of this story was that these types of things are increasing in frequency and the assistance from this type of software certainly is not helping matters. This could be interpreted by disturbed teens poorly.

Tin (User):

Only a few get outraged by a simple calculator app. They generally aren't very smart. Do you think JFK was a perfect hit because Lee Harvey Oswald had an iPhone? Perhaps the 2002 Washington Sniper had his iPhone attached to his gun too...

mono (New user):

Quoting Tin:
Only a few get outraged by a simple calculator app. They generally aren't very smart. Do you think JFK was a perfect hit because Lee Harvey Oswald had an iPhone? Perhaps the 2002 Washington Sniper had his iPhone attached to his gun too...

Its simple sure but its not just a calculator. It has the potential to turn a physcopath into a marksman. Remember those 2 idiots who hid in the boot of their car to snipe people. How many rounds did they fire that MISSED? With this app. how many would have missed?

Tin (User):

Quoting mono:
How many rounds did they fire that MISSED? With this app. how many would have missed?


They'd have had even less success with this app. They were crammed in the boot of a car with very little room to move, and almost no way to see what they were aiming at. The app would have done nothing but slow them down.
You seem to not understand the purpose of the application, BTW. It's not a magic aim improving device. It can't make you aim any better. It simply takes some of the guess work and calculations out of long range targetting, in which gravity and wind make significant differences. Most random psychos don't need that because they aren't half a kilometre away.

Sierra (New user):

Quoting mono:
These things should only be available to civilized government sanctioned, trained and diciplined soldiers, not the citizens!

You do realise that the term "civilised" means "in the hands of the people" don't you?

Quoting mono:
Why do 'sporting hunters' want this technology? Where is the sport? Wouldn't that be the equivelant of cheating?...shooting fish in a barrel! Boring.

Not at all boring! Those who practice the discipline of long range hunting, or varmiting, take pains to ensure the painless and rapid death of their targeted prey. To place a projectile on a target or in the kill zone of a rabbit, say, requires the utmost skill and training. As has been said before, Ballistics programs have been around for years and are freely available. Does a new type of tyre on the market turn all drivers into drink drivers?

Sierra (New user):

Pretty much a non event. Most serious shooters have similar software anyway. I can't see a schoolkid getting his hands on a "sniper" rifle either. I'm calling beat-up.

Gloucestre (New user):

Agree with Sierra- a media beat up of anti-gun hysteria.

Phil in NZ (New user):

Only in America... I can see a constitutional ammendment for the right to bare phones...

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Phil in NZ:
I can see a constitutional ammendment for the right to bare phones...

Don't US citizens already cherish rights to wear short sleeves? Although with it currently being winter in the USA, many would choose to forgo this option.

TV Bis (New user):

A useless piece of coding. Unless you are going to carry your own personal weather station with you it is a pointless exercise.

DavoB (New user):

Pointless app right here, Its just going to give someone fuel to fire a gun and even more people to sue the company and gun companies for money.

DavoB (New user):

Its just like those new ads that seem to be popping up everywhere about love matching or whatever, Someone is going to use the product, Its going to fail and someone is going to sue big time. Same apply's here only someone is either going to die or get injured.

Sierra (New user):

Quoting DavoB:
Its going to fail and someone is going to sue big time. Same apply's here only someone is either going to die or get injured.

I'm sorry but I fail to see how a ballistics app is going to hurt someone. Surely by your logic, any accurisation product/process on a firearm is a negative thing. I guess shooters should strip all their rifles back to bare iron sights and take pot luck with their shots?

Lamont Cranston (New user):

Here is the orginal link, the tool is not an app as such but an enhancement to a sniper rifle. The headline as general tone of the article is way off, as is the time line.
David Flynn get your facts straight.
http://www.knightarmco.com/bulletflight/index.htm

mono (New user):

Isn't Apple an American company? Doesn't this violate at least ten US federal laws? AND....What exactly is Apple trying to promote; releasing this app on this of all days! I honestly believe that if anyone is ever proven to have been killed with assistance from this application, then Apple should be thourally sued until they are in business ONLY to pay the law suit! If a VIP falls because of this then they (the board of Apple) should ALL be imprisoned!

Tin (User):

Quoting mono:
Isn't Apple an American company?


Yep.


Quoting mono:
Doesn't this violate at least ten US federal laws?


Don't know? Can you name them? I personally doubt it because it's just a software tool for calculating angles and things. Plus I am fairly sure the same sort of software is already available freely anyway.


Quoting mono:
What exactly is Apple trying to promote; releasing this app on this of all days!


Apple didn't write it, nor did they release it.


Quoting mono:
I honestly believe that if anyone is ever proven to have been killed with assistance from this application, the Apple should be thourally sued until they are in business ONLY to pay the law suit! If a VIP falls because of this then they (the board of Apple) should ALL be imprisoned!


You can believe that all you want, but it doesn't make it happen. Plus your forgetting that the primary tool used would be the gun, not the iPhone. The sniper can still shoot the target without the iPhone, and most would probably still go by gut feeling even after using the tool.

6.5 Grendel (New user):

OK so when someone drives drunk and kills someone then they should be able to sue Exxon because that is were they filled up at. Saying that Apple should be sued is ridiculous and I know that deep down inside you know it.

mono (New user):

Guns are the only "tool" ever invented by man specifically for killing on the scale that they can! Missiles, nukes etc were designed to destroy buildings and landscapes primarily. Not people. Even today, we make "better" (sic) and more effective versions of guns, each designed to kill more people and faster and to fire more rounds than the models before. Guns are the only tool we made for killing on this massive scale. For a so called 'family friendly' company to develop a way to enhance the abilities of any one of these tools and to offer it to the general public (who are already insanely over armed) is, in my opinion, criminally negligent.

6.5 Grendel (New user):

OK you ignorant ass come over to my house and I will kill you with a butcher knife just as easily as with my .45 auto.Perhaps we should outlaw all kitchen knives and go to plastic just because you can hurt someone with them in that case lets outlaw cars,gas,baseball bats,bows and arrow and slingshots are you getting the point I can kill you with just about anything that you might find around the house especially if you don't have a gun to defend yourself with just go to DC and ask them how they feel.

mono (New user):

Aparently some people still object to freedom of speech...even when it does not hurt others!
But the objectors are often those who do seek to hurt...and seek our silence so that the majority may not hear and cause an uproar. Basic population control.

John Landry (New user):

If you think the timing of the release of this app is a coincidence, don't be so naive. The tastelessness of the move was not missed by Fox News, which just did a story congratulating the developers of the app and cheerfully encouraged its viewers to get their rifles and try it out for themselves. Of course, they didn't mention anything about Obama or the inauguration, but why would they bother doing a story about this gadget if they didn't think it would be a provocation during Obama's first full day in office?

Ash (New user):

Quoting John Landry:
The tastelessness of the move was not missed by Fox News, which just did a story congratulating the developers of the app and cheerfully encouraged its viewers to get their rifles and try it out for themselves.

I imagine that's due to a lot of far right Republicans, the only sort who tolerate the extreme bias for Fox News, enjoying hunting. Didn't the app only come out that day? Why shouldn't they report as soon as they discovered it?

John Landry (New user):

If you think the timing of the release of this app is a coincidence, don't be so naive. The tastelessness of the move was not missed by Fox News, which just did a story congratulating the developers of the app and cheerfully encouraged its viewers to get their rifles and try it out for themselves. Of course, they didn't mention anything about Obama or the inauguration, but why would they bother doing a story about this gadget if they didn't think it would be a provocation during Obama's first full day in office?

Ploho (New user):

With a bit of skill (or paying someone smarter) I can tape my Ti-84 to my rifle and do the same SCARRRRRY things. God you lefty types scare easily.
Firstly it's called a ballistics calculator and they're widely available (http://www.norma.cc/default.asp?Lang=2# I use this one frequently). Presuming you have the faculties to know your localized temperature, wind speed, and barometric pressure, then you merely need to know how to apply these things to your existing range card. Oh, that's too hard for a layman you say? Exactly: this application does pidly crap in the hands of "some kid on top of his school gymnasium"

This would be calculus, not trig. That's why professional snipers have to train so much, so these things are ingrained with experience rather than fooling with integrals and derivatives.

I don't know of any way to fire a gun by pressing a trigger. Pulling one, that works, but pressing? Not so much.

Presumably they didn't write that into their contract because they realize that if you have the money to be shelling out on a Kight-Co rifle then you probably aren't some psychopath.

If a kid starts shooting from a gym rooftop, this app wont do very much help because these things really only start being useful hitting man sized targets at around 400 yards, a range beyond even most "he's up in the belltower!" scenarios. Also, that statement is horribly offensive to logic and good taste, especially if you're implying that the kid in question is going to be using the behemoth pictured, which means that the kid decided to drop at least 2500 dollars on a rifle and 500+ on a scope.

And also, using terms like "sniper gun" and phrases like "on their sniper" really highlights your ignorance on these matters. Casually throwing around "semi-automatic" because it's a liberal scare word is a nice touch, too. Never mind that semi-auto weapons are inherently less accurate than bolt action guns, especially at long ranges.

The caption, "Profiles for three popular sniper rifles are preloaded" really explains all the ignorance perfectly. Firstly only one of these weapons can be considered a sniper rifle: the M110. The PDW is a "personal defense weapon" which means a weapon intended for short range use that fires a rifle round less powerful than an "intermediate" cartridge. The idea is to give PDWs to non frontline troops (aka not snipers). You really couldn't have gotten that one more wrong. The SR16 is their version of an M4 pattern carbine. In automatic versions, this is called an "assault rifle." Ask any soldier or police officer who has carried one if the gun is capable of providing sniper fire. In terms of "popular", Knights doesn't have too large a market share outside of the armed forces, but the AR10 and AR15 do have very large followings. The KAC PDW, however, is still not sold to... well, anyone. It was displayed at the SHOT show and several gun and defense magazines were allowed to play with them. Most people even in the hardcore gun-nerd community have never even heard of it or the caliber it is in. It's called journalism, and this piece is not an example.

And, finally, it takes great skill to be a skilled long distance shooter. The ability to put several bullets in one hole very far away takes a lot of muscle control, consistency in action, control of breathing, and even monitoring of heart rate. Long distance target shooting is a popular competitive activity, and it is to those people that this app is geared towards.

Being a sniper, on the other hand, means you have to have all of that knowledge as well as being able to memorize exactly what your bullet will do under what circumstances, firing from uncomfortable and not entirely convenient positions. It's not as simple as buying an expensive gun and an iPhone, and commentary like this belittles real snipers in the line of fire.

MoJo (New user):

And yet...my e-book with the F-bomb in it was not approved for obscenity. http://moriahjovan.com/mojo/the-forbidden-apple Look, I don't care if this is fear-mongering or what. I have my own stash of weaponry.

The only thing it points out to me is that Apple's approval process is hypocritical and otherwise anti-e-book. Yeah, I do have a dog in this fight.

MoJo (New user):

(Duplicate post. My bad.)

REBEL (New user):

This articel SMELLS strongly of having anti-freedom (i.e. anti-gun) bias! Not to mention, this is NOT the first of such applications.......but I add facts to a emotional pitch.
Its math, get over it. People will use it in the manner in which they desire. Or shall we dumb down the general population even more than the schools are doing now?

6.5 Grendel (New user):

Ok first things first the App was previewed and released long before the inauguration, and you don't need a ballistic computer to shoot people from the roof of the gym, besides all that, it takes a lot more than a Ballistic computer to make a sniper I would like to see a 15 year old that just happens to come across a 3 to 4 thousand dollar sniper rifle make a 1000 to 2000 meter shot and acutely connect with the target witch is what this App was developed for O ya if you find that kid let me know I would like to know were he found the rifle.
So to sum it all up if you don't like guns that's fine but shut the frick up and don't try to tell me what I can and cant like thank you apple finely someone that is not afraid to come out with something to help us rednecks that cling to our guns and religion out.

scubanator24 (New user):

you liberals need to calm down. apple is a liberal company so they did not do this on purpose. and 6.5 grendal is right, i can kill you with just about anithing so leave my guns alone.