Tragedy As Kid Plays Halo, Re-Creates Action With Real Gun

[FireGS]

The Article:
http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2008...news/news3.txt

The "Debunking"?
http://xboxfocus.com/columns/26-outs...ath/index.html

Thoughts?

[lildobe]

I have to agree with the debunking.

One child, alone, could not shoot himself in the head while "reenacting" anything from Halo, as there are no scenes where you shoot yourself in the game.

This was a tragic case of an unsupervised child who was unfamiliar with firearms safety playing with a gun.

Hell, I can remember many times when I was his age and home alone, taking "my" .22 rifle out back and target shooting with it... and I'm still here today.

Was this irresponsible of me? Probably, but I was 10-12 years old. I also had rigorous firearms safety education thanks to my Mother, and she trusted me enough that though she kept the firearms locked in her bedroom closet, I knew where the key was.

So let's not blame the game here. Lets blame the parents who didn't do their part to teach the child proper firearms safety and the respect one must have for a deadly weapon.

[FireGS]

Don't forget though, he had an Automatic .22.

>_> *sigh*

[1861]

Don't forget though, he had an Automatic .22.

>_> *sigh*

oh ! one of them assault rifles . HUH!!

[LorDiego01]

Darwinism at its best.

[adymond]

Darwinism at its best.

Not even remotely funny. An 11 year old child is dead. While I think it is total BS to say he was reenacting scenes from the game, it is still terrible this young man died. Was he left home alone all day that the father found him dead? Why did the boy have access to the ammo and the firearm while his parents were not home? Was the rifle kept with a mag in and a round in the chamber?

[RocketFoot]

I hate to see any kids get hurt, so I also blame poor parenting. However, when adults that should know better get hurt, thats where Darwinism comes into play. After all, the gene pool needs to be cleansed somehow!

[adymond]

I hate to see any kids get hurt, so I also blame poor parenting. However, when adults that should know better get hurt, thats where Darwinism comes into play. After all, the gene pool needs to be cleansed somehow!

Exactly my thoughts. I also am reading the debunking and was wondering why nobody else picked up on a few things.

Powered by Digg's UsersColumn ArticleDebunking the "Halo" Death
by Dick Ward September 16th 2008 4:09 PM CDT21 Comments“TRAGEDY AS KID PLAYS HALO, RE-CREATES ACTION WITH REAL GUN”.

It’s a headline you might expect to see on Fox News, or perhaps read in some ill-informed newspaper, but no. This sensationalist title appeared on Kotaku. As the title states, accompanying this was a blip about how Joshua Nimm, an 11 year old child from Wisconsin, apparently killed himself while "imitating Halo".

WTF is that? So only Fox News is misinformed? I guess the MSM is just GREAT with reporting the honest truth and facts.

The same exact inaccuracies can be found in any other article/report on the topic in the media (and yes, even Kotaku), but I am just using this particular one as an example. Article quotes are italicized.

“We are ruling that it is an accidental shooting,” Jefferson County Detective Sgt. Larry Lee said. “The child was getting ready for school and decided to skip school.”

The kid’s eleven, and apparently he decided to skip school? The article seems to indicate that the boy was found by his father (it says with, but that’s just confusing), but doesn’t give any indication of when. Was the father home at the time? Why was he able to skip school after ‘deciding’ to? That's just not normal behavior.

He was playing video games and we found out he had a .22 caliber rifle that belongs to him.

I wonder which one of these was the real problem: the fact that an 11 year-old child was playing video games or that he had possession of a firearm. Really, a rifle that belongs to him? In Wisconsin (where this took place). a rifle can’t be owned by anyone under the age of 18. Giving a firearm to someone under the age of 18 is a felony and their possession is considered to be a misdemeanor.

Minors. Generally, both federal and state law prohibit persons under the age of 18 from possessing firearms [s. 948.60], but Wisconsin makes exceptions for long guns used for hunting or firearms used during adult-supervised activities such as target shooting. On the other hand, children adjudicated delinquent based on a felony may not own any type of gun, and school districts must suspend pupils found in possession of a firearm either on school property or while under the supervision of a school authority, such as on a field trip [s. 120.13 (1) (bm)].

Talk about misinformed. Sounds like WI is similar to most other states.

He had access to the rifle and a magazine was kept somewhere else by his parents. He was familiar with the rifle and had been shooting it a couple of times a month - he lived out in the country, so that was nothing unusual.”

It should be unusual, according to that silly little law at least. Wisconsin law states that no one under the age of 12 is allowed to hunt with a firearm, even if they are accompanied by an adult. Leaving a firearm within the reach of a child under the age of 14 is a misdemeanor in itself, so fault goes to the parents.

Didn't see that little gem, but in any event he is right about the parents being responsible for securing the firearm and ammo unless they are there to supervise.

The more concerning thing here should be that someone apparently saw an 11 year old kid playing with a gun and ‘recreating scenes from Halo’ and did nothing about it. This isn’t some Nerf toy or even some “You’ll shoot your eye out” style BB gun. This is a .22, a gun created to kill things.

I didn't see anyone say the child was witnessed to be doing that.

Anyone that’s taken a firearm course can easily state the first rule of handling a gun: always point the gun in a safe direction. In other words, never point a gun at something unless you want to kill it. If you don’t know this bit, you shouldn’t have a gun (even though an 11 year-old shouldn't have a gun period).

Actually I thought rule #1 was; ALWAYS treat ALL firearms as if they were loaded.

Then there's that bit of journalistic honesty with debunking something with OPINION. GRRRRRR.

With an automatic rifle, Lee said there can sometimes be confusion over whether it contains a magazine or not, and this confusion likely led to Nimm's death.

This just gets confusing. The kid had a fully automatic .22? Unless I’m mistaken, fully automatic weapons are generally illegal in the US without special permits. So apparently, this rifle that belonged to an 11 year old boy is also fully automatic.

What a fucktard writing this article. Unless I am mistaken there isn't such a thing as a fully auto .22. I can't imagine the use. Are there rampaging gangs of rabid squirels?

“He took the magazine out and forgot to eject a round that was in the chamber. He probably thought the gun was unloaded,” Lee said.

Again, we go back to the rules. “always treat a gun as if it is loaded.” It’s a pretty steadfast rule that anyone allowed near a gun should know. I’m not saying it’s the kid’s fault, I’m just saying he apparently had no idea how to take care of a weapon that was reportedly his. You really can't expect someone so young to know so in the first place.

I was pretty handy with a 20 gauge by the time I was 11 or 12. I had my own .22 and I knew the rules, but that doesn't mean I was left with a firearm in my posession because my parents didn't want me to make a stupid mistake. This writer is putting his bias into this debunking all over the place.

Sgt. Larry Lee said the incident shows the need for extreme safety with firearms. “The safety issue with weapons is so important. People should always treat them like they are loaded,” he said.

See? The cop says so too.

Nimm was a student at Johnson Creek Middle School. Funeral arrangements are pending at Hafemeister Funeral Home in Watertown.

Here's the dark reality: a child is dead because was in reach of a gun, with a complete lack of education and security on handling firearms. Parental neglect certainly took a front seat in this one. Not only was Joshua left alone from school, but he was somehow able to access a fully automatic rifle as well as ammunition for the gun.

Talk about a bunch of speculation. He may very well be right about the lack of parental supervision, but we are not certain and IMO this is totally irresponsible coming from someone who is trying to combat misinformation.

Additionally, if there were indeed no witnesses, then the Halo link is one of two options. The first is that this link is mere speculation, having absolutely nothing to do with the story and was just brought up by a bad reporter for no reason. This is the best possible option: propaganda is the media's bread and water these days.

There is a bit of truth. I think this dude needs to look in the mirror and repeat this a few times.

The second and worst, is that the parents may have known of the child’s propensity to ‘reenact Halo’ with a real firearm and apparently did nothing about it. This is the thought that makes me sick to my stomach.

What makes me sick is this prick is using this as an opportunity to preach about media propaganda and then do EXACTLY what he is bitching about. This is a story about a child who died. Don't preach about misinformation while throwing accusations there is no factual evidence to back up.

Obviously, this situation is bad: a child is dead and it’s a horrible tragedy. His family and members of community must be reeling from this, and certainly should be. This is a terrible occurrence, one that should never, ever, have to happen. None the less, this isn’t an excuse for journalistic integrity to go out the window though.

You don't say?

The article didn’t outright implicate games in the accidental death, but they mentioned them enough for people to make the link. People like Luke Plunkett of Kotaku, who should really know better, picked up the story and reported it as a Halo related death. Garbage like this can cripple our industry. and spits on journalism. If gaming sites post this stuff up, then how far can the mainstream keep going?

Rest in Peace, Joshua

Really have to get this guy to think of the industry he has thrown under the bus through out this entire article.

[RocketFoot]

Something else I forgot to mention...

I grew up watching Bugs Bunny, Road Runner and Marvin the Martian...but never once did I shoot my self with a space modulator or strap a rocket to my ass! And those were some of the most violent cartoons ever! LOL Why do they think that TV and video games are so damning today?

Screw the media! My kids play COD4, GTA4, Assassins Creed and just got the Force Unleashed and they seem normal to me!

[FireGS]

I can't imagine the use. Are there rampaging gangs of rabid squirrels?

Yes. Zombie Squirrels. Ask Mtbkski.