Three-Year-Old Kills Herself With Game Controller-Shaped Gun

[wraggster]

A three-year-old in Wilson County, Tennessee died Sunday evening after accidentally shooting herself in the abdomen with a weapon she may have mistaken for a plastic Wii facsimile.

At least that's how the news is being reported today in The Tennessean. Three-year-old Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan had been playing a Nintendo Wii game in her living room using a gun-shaped controller which, according to the story, "looked very similar to the real handgun" her stepfather used to scare away dogs that were hanging about the family's home.

The child had been playing a Nintendo Wii video game, Ashe said. The game's controller was shaped like a gun that looked very similar to the real handgun, which her stepfather had put on a table in the living room. Ashe said the girl pulled the gun off the table and it went off.
My question is this: why is the Wii even mentioned in this article? Someone left a loaded handgun in reach of a three-year-old girl. That's the story here.

The fact that the child was playing with a Wii controller that looked like a real gun is a non-issue. This is a three-year-old we are talking about. Three-year-olds touch everything, regardless of whether or not it looks like something they were allowed to touch previously.

Not to mention the fact that most Wii gun controllers are either white and blue or Nerf-colored, none of which is a color commonly found on handguns.

This story is horrible, unfortunate, and tragic, but the way that things are worded here make me wonder if there aren't pair of parents out there thinking that had they not let their child play that Wii game, she would still be alive today.

I don't think the majority of our readership needs clarification on this, but just in case, no - if her stepfather had not left a loaded weapon within reach of a curious three-year-old's hands, she would still be alive today.

http://kotaku.com/5488356/three+year...ler+shaped-gun

[symbal]

One thing i'm happy about is UK laws mean that is almost impossible to happen to my daughter and anyone's kid, you'd have to be the child of a criminal for any chance of it.

[gamev8]

If humans on the average were not complete morons it would not happen in the US either.
I mean how damn stupid do you have to be to leave a loaded gun anywhere.
Firearm Safety 101: Don't have it loaded if you're not about to use it!

[psyfirefly]

Yet more anti-gaming propaganda. This has nothing to do with the wii at all. This has everything to do with a complete ****ing retard leaving loaded weapons lying around within a childs reach. Whoever is responsible should be held fully accountable for the death of the kid.

[osgeld]

One thing i'm happy about is UK laws mean that is almost impossible to happen to my daughter and anyone's kid, you'd have to be the child of a criminal for any chance of it.

It does mean however there are plenty of people in the UK that should have gone and shot themselves out of sheer stupidity, and thus dumbing your country down

[JDvorak]

Hey don't slam the USA because of our gun laws this guy is a freak'n idiot period!!!! What *sshole leaves a loaded gun on the table. I mean was there drugs or alcohol involved here. And come on what wii gun looks like a real gun? There white and plastic last time I looked at a real gun they aren't, but to a 3 year old they could look the same? And it is just insane to link this morons judgment to the fact they owned a wii. All consoles have gun controllers but that doesn't mean that the problem is them having a console system. But boy will legislators in the US run with this incident!

[darkriku2000]

Hey don't slam the USA because of our gun laws this guy is a freak'n idiot period!!!! What *sshole leaves a loaded gun on the table. I mean was there drugs or alcohol involved here. And come on what wii gun looks like a real gun? There white and plastic last time I looked at a real gun they aren't, but to a 3 year old they could look the same? And it is just insane to link this morons judgment to the fact they owned a wii. All consoles have gun controllers but that doesn't mean that the problem is them having a console system. But boy will legislators in the US run with this incident!

I agree with most stuff. But about the wii gun: don't forget, this is a 3 year old, they can't tell the difference, just like they'll think a dog is a cat. I don't feel like explaining it right now, so just go look up schemas.

[JDvorak]

I know a 3 year old doesn't know the difference, I was mearly pointing out that a wii gun looks and feels nothing like a real gun.

[noname1]

Wii games with guns must be at least 12+ games why would they ever let a 3 year old play that?

[fishears]

This is the product of a country that constitutionally allows any idiot to own a gun. Seriously, you don't have to be smart or pass a test or anything. That's how this happens. In the UK, our biggest problem is allowing any idiot to procreate! But at least that progeny isn't armed....:thumbup: