The Tennesseean reports a 3-year-old girl accidentally shot herself to death using a gun that resembled a video game controller after playing the Wii. From the newspaper’s story:

Three-year-old Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan shot herself in the abdomen with the family’s handgun at their home in the rural Norene community, Wilson County Sheriff Terry Ashe said.

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

This tragedy has some hot button political variables involved, including gun control, firearm safety and the tendency for video games to desensitize kids to violence.

What do you think people to do to make sure things like this don’t continue to happen?

Accidental shooting kills Wilson County child [The Tennesseean, via Kotaku]

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