Girl shoots herself because she thought the gun in question was a Wii Mote. [Archive]

Inspector Fowler

03-08-2010, 05:20 PM

DeathtollWRX

03-08-2010, 05:21 PM

This belongs in the humanity is screwed up thread. Seriously? A gun on a table with a three year old?

Paradox Symphony

03-08-2010, 05:23 PM

This belongs in the humanity is screwed up thread. Seriously? A gun on a table with a three year old?

I noticed that thread but I thought this epic fail was awful enough for it's own thread.

bstiff

03-08-2010, 05:25 PM

http://www.destructoid.com/kid-shoots-herself-with-gun-she-thought-was-a-wiimote--166222.phtml

Are you kidding me?

I don't know what state that occured in, but here in FL, it's a criminal offense to leave a unsecured firearm where children could gain access to it. We had something similar a week or two ago where the kid's father left a loaded gun on the television and ? went to work. The kid picked it up and ended up accidentally shooting his brother. Last I heard the father was being charged as well as dept of children and families were involved. I'd have to look it up but I think storing the weapon loaded or together with ammunition can also lead to charges. Leaving the safety on DOES NOT make a gun child proof. It's not that difficult to switch it off and there have been cases where kids have switched off the safety and managed to shoot themselves or others. Obviously this guy was just too stupid to have a gun. Who just forgets and leaves a loaded gun lying around the house?

LongStepMantis

03-08-2010, 05:28 PM

Paradox Symphony

03-08-2010, 05:29 PM

Who just forgets and leaves a loaded gun lying around the house?

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr329/ToddLearnsJapanese/1236281334325.jpg

bstiff

03-08-2010, 05:34 PM

IF it turns out that the parents didn't shoot this little girl (I hope to God the police did a full crime scene on this, including GSR on the kid and both parents), then they still need to go to jail for it.

Leaving a handgun within reach of a child is pretty much the same as shooting one on purpose, in my book. This is the kind of thing that anti-gun groups go nuts over when it is really the extreme stupidity of the parents that is to blame.

Also, who teaches their kid to point a Wii remote at their stomach and "shoot" themselves?

I thought maybe she was just fumbling with it and it went off who knows.

A little more info here:

http://www.wkrn.com/global/story.asp?s=12103004

Apparently, the mother was in the room on the computer when it happened. How she did not notice her kid picking up the gun, Ill never know. Some people are just too dumb to have kids.

bstiff

03-08-2010, 05:37 PM

Nice leap in logic on the part of the parents. Did she express she thought it was a Wii-mote right before she shot herself? I doubt it. I imagine it went something like this:

*BANG*
Mom: She shot herself!
Dad: Shit!...ummm...we'll say video games somehow did it so we don't go to prison for being fucking retarded.
FIN.

Especially since the mother states:

Nice. So you think she might have thought it was a Wii-mote...or just a gun, you know, because it's a gun.

according to the story below, he left the gun on a table where they usually keep the controller, or at least that's their version of the story. The sheriff didn't sound much smarter than the parents. "we're not going to treat it like a crime..." I thought if there was a fire arm related fatality, they always got investigated. Depends on where you live I guess.

LongStepMantis

03-08-2010, 05:37 PM

Bravo to that article for at least leaving out the link to the mother's bullshit claims of Wii-mote doppelgangers in the title. I'm not surprised to learn that the original link leads to a story on FOX. Now, they would never insert video games into a story just to stir controversy, no sir.

*rollseyes until head explodes*

Also, I for one am shocked that some hillbilly sheriff doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. Shocked! I grew up in a place like that. I had briefly considered becoming a cop there just because I would have been Chief in about a week, and decided against it because I would have to work with those morons (as well as a very credible source complaining of corruption). They were so stupid it fucking hurt.

bstiff

03-08-2010, 05:45 PM

Probably should change the title to girl shoots self because fucktard parents leave gun on table for 2 days. There's no indication what she thought.

What'd she do say "lets play wii!"... bang.

Farsight

03-08-2010, 05:48 PM

Their first child died when dad left rat poison on the table where the cereal goes.

Their second child died when left in the car with its parking brake painted like a candy cane.

Their third child died when left alone next to a pool filled with balloons.

Hawkzombie

03-08-2010, 06:01 PM

The positive of this story is the little girl was spared living the next 15 years in their house.

Paradox Symphony

03-08-2010, 06:02 PM

The positive of this story is the little girl was spared living the next 15 years in their house.

Zing! I love you honey

Hawkzombie

03-08-2010, 06:11 PM

Zing! I love you honey

Aw, making you smile brightens my day, snookums.

Xerxes

03-08-2010, 06:12 PM

Jack is probably somewhere fuming about not being able to get in on these shenanigans.

bstiff

03-08-2010, 07:00 PM

Jack is probably somewhere fuming about not being able to get in on these shenanigans.

I had to think a second about who that was. Im sure he'll be on fox or something tomorrow as an "expert"

And your avatar is just wrong....

Kelegacy

03-08-2010, 07:35 PM

As a parent this sort of thing disgusts me.

My wife felt terrible when our son fell over and hit his face on the floor trying to reach for a toy and cried like hell. She felt like an awful parent, though I tried to reassure her that it wasn't her fault and kids will get hurt sometimes and she'll have to get used to that before long. He's a boy, after all.

But a loaded gun in plain sight? What the hell is wrong with people? That's something unfathomable. The parents should be locked up for manslaughter, child endangerment, neglect, and whatever else they can throw at them. If they have other kids, take them away and put them in foster care, revoke their rights completely. If you display that sort of stupidity with one child, especially something that winds up with the child dead, you don't deserve to have any children.

Just goes to show anyone can be a mother or father, but it takes a whole lot more to be a parent.

Thanasimos

03-08-2010, 07:35 PM

And your avatar is just wrong....

Somebody missed an entire thread.

Xerxes

03-08-2010, 07:40 PM

I had to think a second about who that was. Im sure he'll be on fox or something tomorrow as an "expert"

And your avatar is just wrong....

You must of missed my avatar twin. :p

jpc_theoneandonly

03-08-2010, 08:24 PM

As a parent this makes me absolutely sick. My son crawled off the couch once when we were playing and hit his head. He cried so loud and I felt horrible. I thought it was my fault.

I can only imagine how these two idiots must feel. Too late now. They need to be locked up. Next thing you know, they will try to sue nintendo. They would lose I'm sure but not for a lack of trying. Fucking retards. This just goes to show how far we have fallen as a society. Fuck me.

Ravenlock

03-08-2010, 08:41 PM

I'm with LongStepMantis - the whole "she thought it was a Wiimote" thing is almost certainly a justification entirely crafted by the parents. In no way does a Wii remote look like a gun, or a gun like a Wii remote, and a child of three is (generally) old enough not just to know the difference but to ask about the new, strange object.

Whether they're trying to abdicate responsibility for legal reasons or desperately scrambling for some sort of rationalization so that they don't have to face the horror of what they allowed to happen themselves, who's to say (maybe some of both), but it's a fairly absurd "excuse" - which of course it wouldn't be, even if it made sense.

Talanvor

03-08-2010, 08:46 PM

Can they be sterilized for this? They just lost reproductive rights.

Paradox Symphony

03-08-2010, 08:47 PM

When Red Steel 2 comes out, all the cool three year olds will be stabbing themselves in the chest.

Talanvor

03-08-2010, 08:54 PM

When Red Steel 2 comes out, all the cool three year olds will be stabbing themselves in the chest.

Seppuku mode. Only for the hardcore.

Oh wait, Wii game, nvm! ;)

Paradox Symphony

03-08-2010, 08:57 PM

Seppuku mode. Only for the hardcore.

Oh wait, Wii game, nvm! ;)

ZING! Seppuku mode is only on the PS3 version.

Oh wait.

Talanvor

03-08-2010, 09:07 PM

ZING! Seppuku mode is only on the PS3 version.

Oh wait.

Stabbing yourself with a Wiimote or a Magic Wand. Decisions, decisions.

Natal you just have to fake it. :D

wyeast

03-08-2010, 09:08 PM

I have to assume that this was a gun left laying around in single action (hammer cocked back) w/o the safety on, which is pretty much the epitome of stupid, with or without kids around. A good bump of the table and you risk getting your nads shot off anyway. :mad: (not to say guns are inherently that unstable, but you never know if you're gonna bump the trigger with some other object)

I say this because I have a tough time imagining a 3yr old girl being able to grasp a gun hard enough to pull a DA trigger back.

Spooky in that we were just having a conversation about this w/ some friends the other day, about whether or not we thought the boys were old/mature enough to start having "the talk" about gun safety. The decision was no, they're not ready for bb guns yet. We're still at the "yes, it's a toy, but don't point it at other kids" stage.

jpc_theoneandonly

03-09-2010, 08:48 AM

So was it a revolver or handgun? If it was a handgun, then it would had to of had a mag in with a round chambered and the safety off. If it was a revolver it would have to be loaded with safety off. I do not know the amount of pressure it takes to pull the trigger on either of those weapons but could a 3 year old really manage to? Something just isn't right with this whole scenario.

wyeast

03-09-2010, 09:10 AM

If it was in single action (hammer cocked back) it takes very little pressure to set off the trigger. Hence my remark about bumping it on the table - having something like a tv remote would be enough to do it. But if it was in double action I find it unlikely a 3yr old would've done it so easily.

Wraith

03-09-2010, 09:15 AM

As I mentioned in the Humanity thread...

Gun.
Loaded.
Safety most likely off.
Young child in the house.
Gun left where the child could reach it.

Everything is wrong with this picture.

The thing about the wiimote... Whatever. Kids play with things, doesn't matter if it looks like a game controller or not, or whether it was in the same spot. Doesn't sound like the parents are trying to blame games, but trying to explain to themselves why it happened. Even though their negligence is the root cause.

TheFlyingOrc

03-09-2010, 09:55 AM

Ink Asylum

03-09-2010, 10:06 AM

Wow. What dumb fucks.

Yeah, let's buy a Wiimote shell that looks a whole lot like a real gun, have our kid play with it all the time, then leave a REAL gun lying around!

Urizen

03-09-2010, 10:06 AM

That thing on the bottom is a Wiimote shell the parents had bought off the internet. Which, by the way, was insanely dumb of them. They created a perfect storm of "get your kid to shoot themselves".

They should have fallen for the ole 'wiimote shell is a gun' trick long before their child did.

Borthcollective

03-09-2010, 10:26 AM

Luckily this happened before Easter where it would have been she thought the gun was the chocolate pistol we bought her to eat.

wyeast

03-09-2010, 10:57 AM

Wait, it gets better (http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100308/NEWS03/100308009/Accidental+shooting+kills+Wilson+County+child)...

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

Fucking dogs?!? :mad:

*facepalm*

Borthcollective

03-09-2010, 11:00 AM

Because dogs know what a gun looks like and why to be frightened of it.

Ravenlock

03-09-2010, 11:14 AM

....Wow. I got nothin'.

bstiff

03-09-2010, 11:15 AM

Wait, it gets better (http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100308/NEWS03/100308009/Accidental+shooting+kills+Wilson+County+child)...

Fucking dogs?!? :mad:

*facepalm*

That's different than the original story then. Yesterday he claimed he had it out because of a prowler.

ShivaX

03-09-2010, 11:15 AM

So, it turns out the "gun looks like a Wiimote" bit is probably accurate:

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2010/03/500x_wiigun.jpg

That thing on the bottom is a Wiimote shell the parents had bought off the internet. Which, by the way, was insanely dumb of them. They created a perfect storm of "get your kid to shoot themselves".

So that kinda comes back to:

We left a loaded handgun with the safety probably off on the table where our three year old can get to it.

I imagine gun safety isn't high on the list in that household if you're using hand guns to "scare off dogs". I'm also reasonably sure thats admitting to a crime most places unless you were showing the dogs the gun and assuming that would do it.

TheFlyingOrc

03-09-2010, 11:16 AM

Wait, it gets better (http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100308/NEWS03/100308009/Accidental+shooting+kills+Wilson+County+child)...

Fucking dogs?!? :mad:

*facepalm*

I believe the dog part was contradicted by later reports.

But still, fake gun. gg, parents.

wyeast

03-09-2010, 11:20 AM

Because dogs know what a gun looks like and why to be frightened of it.

In that case, why not just use the wiimote to scare them off? :p

I believe the dog part was contradicted by later reports.

But still, fake gun. gg, parents.

Probably because after a while they realized that excuse sounded really lame, even for Tennessee. :D (Sorry, had to go there) :)

Finally figured out the pictured gun is a S&W Sigma 380, double action only. Never fired one myself (tho' I have seen a 9mm version) - still not entirely convinced a 3yr old can successfully pull the trigger while holding it... seems like their hands are just too small :confused:

Then again, Sigmas are patterned after Glocks, which have a really light pull for a "double action" pistol, because they rely on the funny trigger safety (which S&W's didn't use), so I guess this is still in the stupidly dumb facepalm territory.

TheFlyingOrc

03-09-2010, 11:20 AM

So that kinda comes back to:

We left a loaded handgun with the safety probably off on the table where our three year old can get to it.

I mean, I think we can all agree that leaving the loaded weapon on a table where a child can reach it is the most direct cause.

However, they let her play with a fake realistic looking gun. They pretty much TRAINED her "guns aren't dangerous, and are, in fact, quite fun!" She might not have shot herself without that part of the equation.

johnperkins21

03-09-2010, 11:31 AM

Because dogs know what a gun looks like and why to be frightened of it.

Well, maybe they thought it was a Wiimote without the wrist strap and were afraid of it being launched with great speed and velocity directly at their heads.

wyeast

03-09-2010, 11:33 AM

Doubly so when it's that realistic looking. She could've been playing with the gun for several minutes without anyone blinking because they thought it was the wiimote, too.

Hell, they probably left it on the table for that reason. I wonder if the wiimote is sitting in the pistol case under the bed. :mad:

Khrymsyn

03-09-2010, 11:40 AM

However, they let her play with a fake realistic looking gun. They pretty much TRAINED her "guns aren't dangerous, and are, in fact, quite fun!" She might not have shot herself without that part of the equation.

Guess what? She DEFINITELY wouldn't have shot herself had her parents been attentive and not left loaded guns lying around, instead of ignorant fuckwads.

Kielaran

03-09-2010, 11:58 AM

Well, maybe they thought it was a Wiimote without the wrist strap and were afraid of it being launched with great speed and velocity directly at their heads.

Wiimotes have been know to be fatal (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172284)to dogs. :p

nabokovfan87

03-09-2010, 12:15 PM

Apparently, the mother was in the room on the computer when it happened. How she did not notice her kid picking up the gun, Ill never know. Some people are just too dumb to have kids.

Then you should just see this as natural selection/darwinism in its finest.

Good job nintendo for making the wii shotgun, wii handgun, and wii bazooka though. I'm sure the retarted 3 year old didn't know the difference.

Wii Pistol:

http://uk.codejunkies.com/Images/products/medium/wii-gun-small.jpg

Real Pistol (top is real, bottom is actual shell parents owned):

http://wkrn.images.worldnow.com/images/12103004_BG3.jpg

Lol, the first comment on the news story:

im pretty sure there isnt a wii gun that look like an actual gun....

Generation ABXY

03-09-2010, 12:47 PM

Good job nintendo for making the wii shotgun, wii handgun, and wii bazooka though. I'm sure the retarted 3 year old didn't know the difference.

Aren't those all third-party? And you'd be hard pressed to say the Wii Zapper looks like a real gun...

Also, when you make a mental disorder sound more like a toaster strudel, I'm not sure you have room to call anyone "retarted." :p

TheFlyingOrc

03-09-2010, 01:06 PM

Guess what? She DEFINITELY wouldn't have shot herself had her parents been attentive and not left loaded guns lying around, instead of ignorant fuckwads.

Thanks for going way out of your way to ignore my first paragraph where I say exactly that. My whole point is "they didn't just make an elementary mistake, they went beyond the call of stupid".

TheFlyingOrc

03-09-2010, 01:10 PM

Then you should just see this as natural selection/darwinism in its finest.

Good job nintendo for making the wii shotgun, wii handgun, and wii bazooka though. I'm sure the retarted 3 year old didn't know the difference.

Wii Pistol:

http://uk.codejunkies.com/Images/products/medium/wii-gun-small.jpg

Nintendo did not make the Wii pistol. They made the zapper, which doesn't look like a real gun at all.

Real Pistol (top is real, bottom is actual shell parents owned):

http://wkrn.images.worldnow.com/images/12103004_BG3.jpg

Lol, the first comment on the news story:

The gun the parents owned was made by a third party chinese company, and can't even be sold in stores in the US. They bought it online.

As I said, the parents took a very deliberate, out of their way series of steps to get their daughter to shoot herself.

Khrymsyn

03-09-2010, 01:39 PM

Thanks for going way out of your way to ignore my first paragraph where I say exactly that. My whole point is "they didn't just make an elementary mistake, they went beyond the call of stupid".

Didn't "ignore" it, but chose to reinforce how the second paragraph should not even come in to play. It doesn't really matter how someone is or isn't "trained", when the situation shouldn't have existed in the first place was what I was trying to stress. Perhaps I did so poorly.

nabokovfan87

03-09-2010, 02:06 PM

Nintendo did not make the Wii pistol. They made the zapper, which doesn't look like a real gun at all.

Whether it is nintendo made or not, they are encoraging peripheral casing for the wii remote. from things like the bowling ball, fishing pole, knife, surgery kit, etc. there are literally thousands of items.

TheFlyingOrc

03-09-2010, 02:20 PM

Hawkzombie

03-09-2010, 04:01 PM

Whether it is nintendo made or not, they are encoraging peripheral casing for the wii remote. from things like the bowling ball, fishing pole, knife, surgery kit, etc. there are literally thousands of items.

Honestly, I think you're way off base here. This isn't like the squit gun Assault Rifle situation of the 80s/90s which caused ALL guns made after that point to in no way resemble real guns (either in design or color) so that people couldn't get shot while simply playing. Hell, ym dad had a semi automatic gun that squirted water. You could not tell the difference.

This? You're trying to say it's Nintendo's fault simply because they encourage the use of different shaped casings for their wiimote that it's somehow their fault? That the fact it looks like someone painted the white one black doesn't even factor into this?

And please, PLEASE tell me where you've seen a pure white handgun. Seriously. This is 100% on the parents for being stupid fucks. I feel bad for the little girl only. Maybe I was harsh in my 'at least she won't spend the next 15 years with them'...if she'd have lived, I'm sure social services would've noticed the family enough to let her have something of a childhood.

Jesus Fuck. Wake up and read what you're writing. To even imply this is a Nintendo issue...When the hell did Jack Thompson join the forum?

Ravenlock

03-09-2010, 04:02 PM

Whether it is nintendo made or not, they are encoraging peripheral casing for the wii remote. from things like the bowling ball, fishing pole, knife, surgery kit, etc. there are literally thousands of items.

...And you're arguing that this means it's their fault that somebody made a realistic pistol-like housing for it?

The Wii remote in no way resembles any sort of real weapon. And no housing for the Wii remote made by Nintendo in any way resembles any sort of real weapon.

The argument you seem to be making is akin to saying that because DVD players "encourage" you to put DVD's in them, the companies that make the DVD players are responsible for DVD porn.

EDIT: Seems we jumped on that simultaneously. Hawkzombie got in before me this time, though. :p

EDIT x2: Personally, I don't think the Nyko pistol grip (the white one) bears a close enough resemblance to a real gun to be a serious concern. If your kid isn't old enough to know the difference between that and a firearm, they shouldn't be playing with it. (With the Nyko Pistol Grip. Obviously they shouldn't be playing with the firearm.) The black Wiimote gun casing, however, is surprisingly lifelike and I would certainly oppose ever letting any kid "play" with that.

Thanasimos

03-09-2010, 04:09 PM

Whether it is nintendo made or not, they are encoraging peripheral casing for the wii remote. from things like the bowling ball, fishing pole, knife, surgery kit, etc. there are literally thousands of items.

That's it, I'm making a casing for my headphones that looks like a revolver. When I invariably shoot myself in the ear with a real one, I'm blaming Sennheiser. All the swappability in the parts! It's like they were telling me to do something funky with my 280s.

jpc_theoneandonly

03-09-2010, 04:11 PM

Can't we all just agree that this situation boils down to stupid fucking parents?

Thanasimos

03-09-2010, 04:16 PM

Can't we all just agree that this situation boils down to stupid fucking parents?

If that was ever in question, we would be arguing about that instead of other things!

Vigil80

03-09-2010, 04:22 PM

Can't we all just agree that this situation boils down to stupid fucking parents?
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/8681/scruffyfuturamak.jpg

Hawkzombie

03-09-2010, 04:26 PM

EDIT: Seems we jumped on that simultaneously. Hawkzombie got in before me this time, though. :p

Great minds and all that lol

I will agree with you about the white gun case, but honestly, it's still not the casing's fault, its the parents.

LongStepMantis

03-09-2010, 04:32 PM

That's different than the original story then. Yesterday he claimed he had it out because of a prowler.

The only chance they've got is if their area suffers from prowling wild dogs. They lurk in the bushes outside before breaking through the windows RE-style. Even in that fictional scenario, they would still be negligent for making a toy and a gun look identical, and then presenting the child with both.