Slashdot Mirror
Accidental Wii Suicide
Paul Taylor noted a story that I would have thought to be an April Fool's Day joke a few weeks from now, which makes it only seem more tragic. A 3-year-old shot herself with a gun after mistaking it for a Wii controller.
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
Because we all know that is going to happen.
Don't blame the absurd gun laws that allow every douchebag the "right" to bear arms.
Don't blame the neglect, irresponsibility and carelessness of adults in the house.
Ignore the fact that this would only happen in America because of #1.
Blame the Wii because we all know the toy gun accessory it comes with gave the kid the wrong impression.
I feel sorry for the kid and the family.
That's a bit harsh. Someone's lost a child, here. What's needed here is publicity to help others avoid this mistake and, ideally, a ban on firearms in domestic environments.
Your mom was a bitch.
It was his stepchild who killed herself. His one-year old biological child is alive and well.
Yup. I was preparing to nominate this occurrence for the Darwin award, when I noticed this detail. Male lions kill the offspring of a female lion before mating with her. This is apparently advantageous for their own genes. Ol' Dougie did the same.
Say out loud: I'm an Aspie and I'm somewhat proud, I guess. Uh. Can I write an email in all caps instead? Hm...
Less.
What use is a gun when defending yourself from your government? They've got bigger guns, better training and more experience.
You are far better off convincing the government soldiers to "desert".
This is just another evidence that weapons must be stored unloaded and locked up when not in use.
So I'll say - prosecute the parents till your ears bleed. The right to bear arms is just an excuse for weapon fetishists.
Relate the number of accidental kills with the number of validated kills. Do you want 10 dead for every legal kill?
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Or, for that matter, from being left in a car on a hot day - this kills something like a dozen children in the US alone every year.
It doesn't get around the fact that these people left a device which has the express purpose of killing or injuring someone lying around in a state where it was immediately dangerous.
Incidentally, how do you manage to electrocute yourself with uncovered mains sockets? I presume you're talking about those stupid little plastic plugs that people put in to stop children somehow inserting something into the socket. How a child small enough to not understand that sticking things in sockets is dangerous is meant to have the strength and ingenuity to push something in there is beyond me.
You need to get with the times. Now we want independent learners.
So keeping loaded guns within reach of the toddler is good. Especially if you also hunt down and buy a wii controller that looks as much like a gun as you can find so the kid can learn that that is a toy. Bonus points if you put the loaded gun in the location the toy gun usually is.
On the bright side, if the next generation isn't smarter they will at least be luckier...
And usually you are held responsible for it. This was not a tragic mistake it was a murder and should be treated as such.
Why bother
The most tragic mistake people make is failing to note that the "purpose" of a handgun is to kill another person or use the treat of such to defend one's self. They are not really useful for hunting though they occasionally get misused for such and the only reason to use them for target shooting is that they exist. Most states outlaw the use of a pistol or other handgun for hunting because they are far more likely to would big game than kill it and that as any hunter knows is tragic not helpful.
The second amendment says weapons, and weapons they are so the right to bear them must not be infringed, but the right to own them should be earned not assumed.
Why bother
OH MY GOD.
/. and I'd think most of the people stupid enough to do something like that wouldn't be here. I really hope that's the case. If not, please, I implore you, think about what you are doing. You are putting her life and your family's life in danger.
"Locked, cocked, and ready to rock"? Are you serious? You keep your gun in its flimsy plastic case on the top shelf of your closet and not locked up in any way, but loaded, cocked and ready to go? And you expect your 3 year-old to listen to you and to not sneak in the closet when daddy isn't watching? What the hell is wrong with you? Kids don't listen! They're kids, they don't know better for the most part! No matter what you teach them you have to still protect them!
Thank God she isn't tall enough to get your gun where you have it now, and I pray that she doesn't have any long toys to poke the case down, items she could throw up there to knock it down, or that you don't have a ladder around she could drag over and use. When my son was 4 he was fairly resourceful, I'd bet any amount of money that he could have gotten stuff out of the top of my closet without too much of a problem if he really wanted to.
God I pray I'm getting trolled. I sincerely hope with a cheesy line like "Locked, cocked, and ready to rock" and with all the "fucks" in your post that you are joking. I'd hope you wouldn't be that dumb as to trust a young child not to touch a loaded, cocked, unlocked gun in the house in a location where she could potentially get to it. It is
I'm sorry that you're the type of person that would rather give up everything they love rather than fight and die for it.
Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
I would say the father got drunk, shot the kid (an intruder), then parents thought of this brilliant excuse to blame it on video games while they were sobering up. Both should be in prison regardless.
A better question is why it was loaded? Responsible gun owners always keep their guns locked in a safe, with the ammunition locked up separately. It is far more likely that a family member will accidentally find an unlocked, loaded weapon, and harm themselves or someone else than it is that one can successfully repel a home invader with it.
I use friend/foe to signal strong [dis]agreement instead of mod points. What else are f/f good for?
More stupidity on his part.
If "investigating something" requires a gun, it's got a bid adrenaline dump with it that would have made it easy to put the gun away, clean the kitchen, and re-tile the bathroom.
He's lying about this. He had it out and was fooling around with it.
Almost every state allows handgun hunting, and many people legally engage in the sport every year.
Then I stand corrected.
This does not negate my argument.
Handguns were developed for a specific purpose. That being that they were close to hand. The only reason for having a gun close to hand is defense from a large carnivorous animal or a similarly armed animal.
They are handy on horseback which is not as big a concern since the development of carbine rifles. But they are easy to conceal, fast to use and therefore far more dangerous today than useful. They should be phased out of existence now as we have civilization to handle what they were intended for.
Why bother