A three-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed herself after mistaking a handgun for a surprisingly life-like Nintendo Wii video game controller.

Here is an excerpt from the report by Telegraph.co.uk:
“Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan shot herself in the chest with a .380 calibre pistol after finding her stepfather’s gun lying on a table in the living room of the family home in Norene, Tennessee.
Police believe she mixed up the semi-automatic with a gun controller for the Nintendo Wii, which looks similar and which she had learned how to use from playing on the games system.”

Apparently, “Douglas Cronberger, 32, the gun’s owner, said he had forgotten he had left the gun out after he took it from its cabinet when he went to investigate a suspected prowler on Sunday evening. He had already gone to bed, but Tina Ann Cronberger, the child’s mother, was sitting only a few feet away using a computer when the accident happened, while her three-month-old brother was playing nearby.”

If you ask me, there is no excuse for the gun’s owner to have carelessly left his weapon unsecured and loaded, especially with children around the house.

in some countries (like Israel) a firearm must be secured behind 2 locks when not being carried or directly supervised. Failure to comply, even without incident results in jail time.

The blame in this matter does not belong to Nintendo, but to an owner who would:

A. Leave his firearm in plain sight/unsupervised, especially around Children.

B. Go out of his way to purchase a life-like Wii gun cover.

C. Allow his extrememly young child to play with (and get used to) a gun accessory.

This is a sad situation and the full blame rests with the parent who has no excuse and should be prosecuted. The full article can be read HERE.

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