According to ABC News there is a Wii Controller that looks like a Black Handgun

[RamboLiberal]

Mistaking a loaded gun for a video game controller, a 3-year-old in Tennessee accidentally shot and killed herself, officials said.

Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan of Norene, Tenn., shot herself Sunday night after her stepfather left his loaded Smith & Wesson handgun out on a table, Wilson County Sheriff Terry Ashe said.

Cheyenne's mother told police officers that the child was used to playing a shooting game with the Nintendo Wii video game console and likely confused the real gun with the realistic-looking black toy gun, the sheriff said.

"The unfortunate thing is that this Nintendo game called Wii had what looks like a solid black, basically automatic-looking type mechanism that operates the game," he said. "Unfortunately, the stepdad also had a .380 caliber black Smith & Wesson. The child was used to playing the video game."

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Michael Fahey, a reporter for the video game blog Kotaku, said lifelike gun controllers, like the one found by police at the Cronberger home, are very rare.

"It's not one that's generally on sale," he said. "You can't generally find it on sale in the U.S. because no one wants to sell a realistic-looking gun controller to children."

Manufactured by the HAIHONGCHANG Electronics Company in China, the WiiAuto Pistol, he said, is available for sale on various Web sites, such as eBay. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABCNews.com.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/toddler-dies-mistaking-gun-wii-controller/story?id=10056190

Nonetheless still the father's fault for laying down a loaded hangun where his child could reach it.

[Deep13]

1. I've capped the electric outlets, put the gate in front of the stairs, turned...

...turned off the stove and made sure the cleaning chemicals are locked. What am I forgetting?


:shrug:




:shrug:





:shrug:







Anyone who would leave a loaded gun withing reach of a three-year-old is too stupid to own one. Or to drive a car. Or to have a kid.

[Tesha]

2. Strangely enough, a great many people each year seem to fall into the category of "too stupid...

...to own a gun" and yet, here in America, they do
(own one or more guns).

Tesha

[RamboLiberal]

3. IMHO there are a ton who fall in to "TOO STUPID" to have a kid

Sad for the kids born to them.

[Euromutt]

12. There are more under-15s killed in "backover" incidents...

...than by unintentionally inflicted gunshot wounds. It's usually some situation in which the kid is playing in the driveway, the parent doesn't see him or her in the car's mirrors because the kid's too small (or the parent doesn't check the mirrors), and backs the car over him or her. The numbers for under-15s are ~100/year killed in "backovers" (and ~2,000 injured) against ~60/year killed (and ~850 injured) for unintentional GSWs (more than half of which are 10-14 year-olds).

Just by way of an example.

[TheWraith]

4. This story smells to me.

The house just HAPPENS to have an extremely rare game controller that looks like a real gun.

The stepfather just HAPPENS to bring out his real, loaded, unsafetied gun while the girl is playing.

He just HAPPENS to leave it right there on the table where she can get at it.

And she just HAPPENS to manage to shoot HERSELF with it, instead of say the TV? And to fatally shoot herself at that, instead of say hitting her foot or something?

[Jackson1999]

5. Agreed

I hadn't thought of that, but you are correct. It is fishy.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. My first thought ... Was he TRYING to get the kid killed?

Maybe there IS more to this story.

[TheWraith]

10. Or most likely it's a cover story for him having a more active role in her death.

For some people, children of a first marriage are just baggage when their parents hook up with someone new. Both mothers and their new boyfriends/husbands have been known to "do away" with kids to get "free" of them.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

6. So violent video games DO have direct role in a childs death!? n/t

[AtheistCrusader]

7. This stinks of absolute BS

If the kid had shot the TV, I could buy it. It's a stretch but I could buy it. But the first thing the kid pointed at and pulled the trigger was her own head? And all the WII controller surfaces are missing? Kid didn't notice? Bull. The controller buttons are visible on the top of the 'pistol' cladding when the controller is inserted.

And the safeties are all wrong.

This is total bull.

[gorfle]

8. I agree.

I agree, something is fishy.

The first thing I thought of is even if someone did pick up a gun and mistake it for a game controller wouldn't the first thing you shoot be the TV?

Or when you play a video game is the first thing you do is pick up the game controller and pretend to shoot yourself in the head?

[Euromutt]

11. See also another thread on this subject

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x300569

The article cited by onehandle may provide additional insight: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100308/NEWS03/100308009/Accidental-shooting-kills-Wilson-County-child

[RamboLiberal]

13. Could be possible if as stated the kid was pulling the gun

off the table and ended up shooting herself in the abdomen.

I think the father should be charged for something like reckless endangerment.

[GreenStormCloud]

14. Nothing society could do to him will be worse than what he is suffering now. N/T