Wii have a shooting.

I first stumbled across this on the Mirror's site.

Three-year-old shot dead in Wii controller mix up

Quote :

A youngster has been tragically killed after she mistakenly picked up a loaded handgun, thinking it was a gun-like Wii controller.

Anyone spot the problem here yet?

Child dies thinking a real gun is a toy seems to be the focus... Why is it not: Child dies after loaded handgun is left on a coffee talbe, within her reach, with the safty off?

A quick google search gives me the origional story from Tennessean.com. But I also stumbled across this bit of coverage from The Truth About Guns.

From The Tennessean:

Quote :

Ashe said the girl pulled the gun off the table and it went off.

This little nugget is absent from the Morror article. This gives the impression that the child actually shot herself, rather than the gun fireing accidentally.

Another difference between the stories is this:

Tennessean:

Quote :

Ashe said the girl’s stepfather had taken out his gun to try to frighten off dogs that had been hanging around the home.

Mirror:

Quote :

Her step-father told police that he had left the handgun on the table after hearing what he thought was a prowler outside the house.

Both stories, however, try to connect the accident with the child playing with a Wii light gun. Neither seem to accept that the child was 3, and very likly to fumble and mess about with anything within her grasp.

I'll close with a quote from Truth About Guns:

Quote :

Bottom line: no charges have been filed. Question: why not?

The problem isn't the Wii gun. The problem is that there was a loaded gun in a child's read. In my opinion, there should be charges filed on the step-father.

VIDEOGAMES STRIKE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!1

DAMN THOSE GOD DAMN VIDYA GAYMZ

theweirdkind wrote:

The problem isn't the Wii gun. The problem is that there was a loaded gun in a child's read. In my opinion, there should be charges filed on the step-father.

NO! It is Nintendo's fault for making a game that has the option to use a controller made by a third party that looks anything like a gun at all!!!11!!!!eleventy!!!

/drama

Anyways, yeah, that man needs to go to jail. The legality of owning a gun aside, having it out and loaded in the house, when your 3-year old is up, is foolishness beyond belief. Setting it down on a table, loaded, with the safety off (Wii controllers don't have one, so the kid didn't accidentally take the safety off) in reach of a 3-year old is way beyond foolish, bordering on homicide. Incarcerate this man until he is smart enough to know better, seriously.

Bezron wrote:

Anyways, yeah, that man needs to go to jail. The legality of owning a gun aside, having it out and loaded in the house, when your 3-year old is up, is foolishness beyond belief. Setting it down on a table, loaded, with the safety off (Wii controllers don't have one, so the kid didn't accidentally take the safety off) in reach of a 3-year old is way beyond foolish, bordering on homicide. Incarcerate this man until he is smart enough to know better, seriously.

That's why I checked the Truth About Guns site... I know shit-all about guns and the legeslation behind them... But I'm convinced there are grounds for manslaughter/criminal neglegence here. I mean the guy has openly admitted to leaving the gun out, in reach of the child, loaded, safty off, for the purpose of shooting at dogs, for fucks sake, and he gets no charges... I don't get it.

I'm not exactly pro-gun, but I can be sure that there are responsible, intelligent, pro-gun folks out there who facepalm hard enough to draw blood at stories like this.

WD40 wrote:

Bezron wrote:

Anyways, yeah, that man needs to go to jail. The legality of owning a gun aside, having it out and loaded in the house, when your 3-year old is up, is foolishness beyond belief. Setting it down on a table, loaded, with the safety off (Wii controllers don't have one, so the kid didn't accidentally take the safety off) in reach of a 3-year old is way beyond foolish, bordering on homicide. Incarcerate this man until he is smart enough to know better, seriously.

That's why I checked the Truth About Guns site... I know shit-all about guns and the legeslation behind them... But I'm convinced there are grounds for manslaughter/criminal neglegence here. I mean the guy has openly admitted to leaving the gun out, in reach of the child, loaded, safty off, for the purpose of shooting at dogs, for fucks sake, and he gets no charges... I don't get it.

I'm not exactly pro-gun, but I can be sure that there are responsible, intelligent, pro-gun folks out there who facepalm hard enough to draw blood at stories like this.

Well, it's Tennessee, which has a long history of gun laxness.

Surely even at three years old a child could tell that a real gun wasn't the bright, white-and-blue Wii light gun. Trying to blame the Wii angle on this is idiotic.

Also, the obvious: what the 'ell was a loaded gun doing out in the open in the reach of a small child?

The people leaving a loaded gun in reach of a child that young should be prosecuted for child negligence and possibly manslaughter. Common sense would tell you that.

I agree charges are necessary. Unfortunately we have no idea what sort of person he is, but I'd like to think that losing his daughter to his own carelessness would be significant punishment in its own regard.

Having said that:

Quote :

Setting it down on a table, loaded, with the safety off (Wii controllers don't have one, so the kid didn't accidentally take the safety off)

First, the assumption that a kid of any age couldn't accidentally disengage a manual safety on a gun is one that has resulted in dead children. It's a frigging switch, nothing more. It is perfectly easy to do by true accident, let alone mistake; police shooting themselves in the leg when drawing a weapon on safe with their fingers on the trigger is a relatively common problem. (Especially now that most carry Glocks, which I'll get to in a second.)

Second, some guns don't have manual safeties, like most revolvers. They usually rely on the fact that they have to be deliberately cocked before each shot (single action), or have very heavy trigger pulls (double action). Other pistols have their safety toggles built into the trigger: You disengage the safety by pulling the trigger. Most Glock handguns are like this, and when police departments began buying them like hotcakes, children of police officers would occasionally wind up accidentally shooting themselves or others.

Bottom line: A child shouldn't have access to a gun in the first place. Anyone with small children needs to keep them locked up, NOT hidden, and certainly not just lying around.

Penguin wrote:

You disengage the safety by pulling the trigger.

I'll openly admit that I know bugger all about guns but... Doesn't this kinda defeat the point of having a safty feature in the frist place?

No. A safety device is not there to stop you from pulling the trigger. It is there to stop the gun from going off when you don't want it to. If you don't want your gun to fire, your finger should not be on the trigger. It's one of the most fundamental rules of gun safety.

ETA: This is why a lot of people in the gun community tend to differentiate between "accidental discharge" and "negligent discharge." An accidental discharge is what happens when the gun fires through no fault of the user, almost always a mechanical defect. It is pretty hard to come across with most modern firearms. A negligent discharge is what happens because someone did something stupid that made the gun go off when they didn't want it to, like walk around with their finger on the trigger.

Fair point. Thankyou.

WOW THESE GRAPHICS ARE SO REAL LOOKING

Mafiosa wrote:

WOW THESE GRAPHICS ARE SO REAL LOOKING

Well at least we know it couldn't be mistaken for anything to do with the Wii now.

Penguin wrote:

Mafiosa wrote:

WOW THESE GRAPHICS ARE SO REAL LOOKING

Well at least we know it couldn't be mistaken for anything to do with the Wii now.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

e: this .gif is the perfect harley repellant

Argh my eyes.

WAITAMINUTE

I thought the Wii had no FPS gaems.

Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty 5
Metroid Prime Trilogy
Medal of Honor Heroes 2

And those are just the good ones. Also there are quite a few light-gun games.

Chaltab wrote:

Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty 5
Metroid Prime Trilogy
Medal of Honor Heroes 2

And those are just the good ones. Also there are quite a few light-gun games.

The Wii should be perfect for FPS games, unfortunatly they keep getting them wrong... Also, Nintendo... Not a big fan of guns in general... Not anymore anyway.

The fanbase isn't there either... Or so the nerds say.

In B4 Nintendo is forced to do a recall so they can remake their guns to look like spray bottles painted in psychedelic colors.

Spoiler:

I actually talked about this today with a buddy: why has Point Blank not yet been released for the Wii? Seriously, what the fuck.

Braigwen wrote:

Hilarious frou-frou Transformers stuff

It's My Little Megatron!

Penguin, I'm all for using the correct 2nd amendment terminology, but isn't this the wrong forum to say "accidental discharge" with a straight face on?

Chaltab wrote:

Surely even at three years old a child could tell that a real gun wasn't the bright, white-and-blue Wii light gun. Trying to blame the Wii angle on this is idiotic.

Yeah, I am confused as to why they are assuming the kid mistook it for the Wii controler in the first place. They look nothing alike, feel nothing alike, weight completely different amounts. I mean, I hate to be callous, but the kid is dead. How the hell do you know what was going through her when she picked up the gun? Why assume it was 'OMG I LUV FPS'?

This accident is tragic, trying to BS this to have something to do with something entirely unrelated for your own agenda is sick. Shame on you, newspapers.