A three-year-old in Wilson County, Tennessee died Sunday evening after accidentally shooting herself in the abdomen with a weapon she may have mistaken for a plastic Wii facsimile.


At least that's how the news is being reported today in The Tennessean. Three-year-old Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan had been playing a Nintendo Wii game in her living room using a gun-shaped controller which, according to the story, "looked very similar to the real handgun" her stepfather used to scare away dogs that were hanging about the family's home.

The child had been playing a Nintendo Wii video game, Ashe said. The game's controller was shaped like a gun that looked very similar to the real handgun, which her stepfather had put on a table in the living room. Ashe said the girl pulled the gun off the table and it went off.


My question is this: why is the Wii even mentioned in this article? Someone left a loaded handgun in reach of a three-year-old girl. That's the story here.

The fact that the child was playing with a Wii controller that looked like a real gun is a non-issue. This is a three-year-old we are talking about. Three-year-olds touch everything, regardless of whether or not it looks like something they were allowed to touch previously.

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Not to mention the fact that most Wii gun controllers are either white and blue or Nerf-colored, none of which is a color commonly found on handguns.

This story is horrible, unfortunate, and tragic, but the way that things are worded here make me wonder if there aren't pair of parents out there thinking that had they not let their child play that Wii game, she would still be alive today.


I don't think the majority of our readership needs clarification on this, but just in case, no - if her stepfather had not left a loaded weapon within reach of a curious three-year-old's hands, she would still be alive today.

Accidental shooting kills Wilson County child [The Tennessean]