Wii blamed on Child's Death: Guns looks like Controller

[Paul Keith]

I don't usually post links of this blog to this site but the details of this story seem like it would interest members here.

Source: http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/03/09/wii-blamed-in-little-girls-death-controller-looks-like-gun/

(Other sections are NSFW)

[Eóin]

Next I suppose the steering wheel shaped controller will be blamed when some 4-year old crashes their parents car.

In any sane world that father would be jailed 

[Stoic Joker]

+1 for Eoin

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this case is how easily mentioning video games in conjunction with a child’s death apparently deflects all media attention away from the stepfather’s decision to leave a loaded pistol within reach of an unsupervised 3-year-old child.

Yepper, that about sums it up nicely. ...And just for the record, I routinely carry a gun - which I am legally licensed to do.

[Renegade]

I don't see how prosecuting the guy will help. He's got to live with the fact that he's responsible for his daughter's death. What prison could top that?

[Josh]

I don't see how letting him off will set any sort of precedent for people who leave their guns lying around for a child to access, loaded none-the-less.

[Eóin]

Ever heard of reckless endangerment? It is a crime.

[Renegade]

I don't see how letting him off will set any sort of precedent for people who leave their guns lying around for a child to access, loaded none-the-less.

True. But then again, do you really think that anyone stupid enough to leave a loaded gun out in the open when there are children around will actually be deterred by the threat of imprisonment? I doubt those kinds of people have the cognitive ability to process things like that.

BTW Josh, what's the signature about? I've not read anything about that.

[Renegade]

Ever heard of reckless endangerment? It is a crime.

Anyone that leaves loaded guns around for children reasonably can claim diminished capacity as a defense.

[Josh]

Why not charge him with involuntary manslaughter? He left his gun out and the child shot and killed themselves with it. Leaving the gun unsecured like that should immediately result in his prison sentence.

My signature was about the idea of opera forcing MS to advertise for them via the ballot window for browsers. It solved nothing and is being "clicked through" like every other addon such as this has been in the past.

[Deozaan]

What Wii controller looks like a real gun, anyway?

This is the official one made by Nintendo:



If he owned one that looked more realistic than that, he ought to at least sue whatever 3rd party peripheral maker designed and sold it. Even the more realistic looking ones are mostly all white, with a particular black model that obviously has the Wiimote sticking really far out the end. It makes me think he got a realistic looking white one and painted it black, though that's just a guess.

It's really a tragedy for a child to be killed like this, especially because it is in no small part directly a consequence of the father's actions (both leaving the loaded gun out and owning a realistic looking gun accessory). And it's even further shameful that the father, instead of taking responsibility, is trying to shift the blame to video games.

[Renegade]

This is the gun and the Wii gun: http://img3.sankakustatic.com/wp-content/gallery/safe-misc-iii/nashville-tn-wii-shooting-gun.jpg -- It does look pretty real.

[Deozaan]

This is the gun and the Wii gun: [link doesn't work] -- It does look pretty real.

Yeah, I saw that picture in the article. But my point was where did he get that and why is he suing/blaming Nintendo when they don't make realistic looking gun accessories? None of the ones I've seen available to purchase look like that. My guess was that he bought one of the more realistic looking white ones from a 3rd party (Mad Catz or Nyko or similar) and then painted it black.

[Innuendo]

Next I suppose the steering wheel shaped controller will be blamed when some 4-year old crashes their parents car.

In any sane world that father would be jailed 

I came in here to post a long rant, but Eóin summed it all up in a small little package in the first reply.

Some people should not be allowed to breed.