I'm no expert with firearms, but I'm sure those folks here who are can back me up on this: there is no similarity between a small chunk of plastic and a real firearm. They are too light and have no kickback or drift. You can not learn how to shoot a real firearm from a fake chunk of plastic. You can learn by going to a real gun range and practicing. Children can do so with parental consent, and a decent parent who does not want their whelps playing a game with this plastic toy can simply be a parent and forbid it.

Error: 678
the remote brain did not respond

I'm 19 and I'm already worried about not really my future children, but my granchildren. What I'm really worried about is the freaky sanatized childhood that's being forced on kids today.

There's people out there who simply want kids shrinkwrapped and delivered to them by the school system at the age of 18. Kids need to learn, they have to get out thier and experience life as a child.

These anti game, anti toy gun people are the same fear campaining moral alarmists that are responsible for parents being scared to let their children play in the street and getting kids charged with sexual harrasment charges. It's ridiculous!

Kids are going to run, play, play with toy guns and sticks as make-believe swords. They'll hurt themselves and hear words and pick up things we really rather they didn't hear about. but it's all part of growing up and that's what this is really about; it's not about violence and it's not about indecency, it's about people who want to control the enviroment out children grow up in and instead of letting them grow up the idea is to have children bought up in their idea of an ideal world.

This sort of thing scares me; the more we try to insulate and protect our kids from the harsh realites of the world, the more blasé the problems with our world will seem to them.

I find it fascinating,” Hasbro’s then Chief Executive Officer Alan Hassenfeld said in “Timeless Toys,” a history, “how we can legislate toy guns, but we can’t legislate real guns.”

That's quite true :/ .

From what I can tell, the 1985 NES Zapper was a more realistic gun than this thing. Where was the whining then?

Oh sure, that device resembles a real gun down to the smallest detail, right down to the sights, the recoil, weight, reloading, brass ejection, safety, in fact, with a real gun, you don't even have to aim, a targeting reticle will appear out of thin air wherever you point the weapon [/sarcasm]

Also, they are late. The Wiiblaster already came out, and it more closely resembles a gun than this thing, a sawed off shotgun to be precise

@ DaveCube

about 5 lbs fully loaded for a submachine gun, which you could argue looks roughly like the zapper.

I think this boils down to the same problem we have in the video game violence debate because it relies on peoples' opinions, not scientific study or comprehensive fact. The Rose Simone case quote points this out: is there actually a study out there that proves children are desensitized to gun violence by playing with toy guns, or is this just a 'rational' idea that seems plausible?

Furthermore, CNN was playing an interview with a young child who's been learning to hunt with his father. At ten, he's clocked more 'sniper' training in a blind than I have at almost 30. He is proficient with several rifles and a crossbow. Why aren't people worried about that leading to criminal activity?

There is one major difference between video games and toy guns: Children HAVE been shot by police by mistake when they were holding toy guns. I do not know of a similar situation for simply owning (and walking around holding) a game on Disc or Cartridge media...

I don't see anyone complaining about GunCon 3.

They're whining now because gaming is become a large part of the world, and some older people still find it difficult to understand how simulated violence can be entertaining.

To me, this thing doesn't look like a real weapon at all. If they ban this thing, they should go right ahead and ban hand-held vacuum cleaners as well.

The Wii Zapper sucks anyway, so there should be no reason to worry. Get a Wii Blaster for your lightgun fun.

It's one of the first time, as a D&D player, that I agree with a guy from the Archdevil Hasbro.

Except, it doesn't look like a gun.

* wondering why no one protests water pistols, Point Blank, dart guns, finger guns, rubberband guns, and the like *

Quite..

404: Sanity Not Found

"...and the ignorant shall inherit the earth..."

Humans are inherently stupid, that much is true of people who think that the Wii Zapper is anything like a gun.

Oh and... "The name Zapper is a homage to the company’s first Zapper, an orange ray gun sold with the original Nintendo in 1985."

The original Zapper was grey and white. They changed it to orange much later.

BB Guns
Water Guns
Nerf Guns
Toy guns, need I say more?

The only similarity is that the hand positions resemble the ones used when folding a FNP-90

This is similar to a gun only in general shape. Other than that, everything's off.

As already mentioned, why is the trigger on the foregrip? The foregrip is used for stability, and I know that from watching movies. And who decided that it would be ergonomic to have the C button there? The Nunchuck attachment is going to be uncomfortable.

Guns have been a part of this nation's history since this nation's inception. So much that we included an amendment in our Constitution that allows for the bearing of arms. Of course I imagine our fore-fathers couldn't have known that the changing of society 200 years later would lead to murders, homicides, suicides, and the like. But the bottom line is this nation is built on freedom and choice, and the trouble today is our government believes that we've gone too far with our freedoms and choices and seeks to clamp down on them for the greater good of the nation.

A Christmas Story always comes to mind when I think of toy guns, because of how Ralphie wants that BB toy gun that he can't get because he'd "shoot his eye out". It depicts how back in the pre and post World War II, guns were patriotic, they were the symbol of our country, and kids still loved cops and robbers and the Wild West. Today guns don't hold the same vision as they used to. Cops and robbers have been replaced by Special Ops, SWAT, and other such units. The Wild West has been replaced by urban America and inner-city gangs. Toy guns though are still a symbol of masculinity, it's socially acceptable for boys to play with toy guns of any sort.

I and probably many other people who were in the Boy Scouts way back when learned proper gun safety and learned how to fire guns, and I think that boys and girls of any suitable age can be taught proper gun safety and procedures and doing so they would be less likely to use them irresponsibly.

As for the Wii Zapper, it's a toy, and even then, it's a shell that you put the Wiimote and the Nunchuck in. You play the Zelda target practice game. I'm sure there will be a few more shooting games for it, but frankly, so what? It's entertainment, and contrary to Jack Thompson or anyone else, video games DO NOT train people to kill. You may learn the reflexes, but there is no way I can go pick up a real gun and handle it the same way. Besides, I don't need a video game to pick up a gun and just fire it indiscriminately into a room, that's quite easy for any person to do, and that's the little detail that these people miss, there is no precision to most of the recent school shootings, hence why they bring extra ammo always.

I'm sorry, anyone who thinks that thing is "training" for a real gun is friggin delusional.

What happens when all children have left to point is their fingers? Do we amputate fingers because they can be used to simulate gun violence?

All the whiners can go crawl back under the rock they've been living under since the NES Zapper days.

I can't tell you home much I learned about how to use guns from video games and toy guns. I am a professional soldier and without the instruction of toy guns I never would have made it as long as I have. The only problems I ran into is the M4A1 has no spot for those little red rings that make the gun go bang. Also they don't shoot the standat foam or little yellow plastic pellets like most normal guns do. The shoot these stupid metal things. Also the reload button is missing and the word "reload" doesn't flash in front of me when I'm running low so that's a big thing I had to learn. Also the crosshairs didn't turn red when I am pointing the gun at a bad guy and green when I am poiting at at a good guy. Also there is no HUD to tell me how much health I have left. It's pretty tough. The gun manufaturers of america really need to get on the ball here. If we are supposed to be training for war with these toys, they are really missing the mark.

@Ken

That isn't going to happen, and they know it. So all they can do is bitch about things that can be legislated against.

an addendum on my previous post,

i once owned and operated a dreamcast, and the gun controller for that was a lot more real-looking than this wii one, it looks literally like a childs play thing, at most it more closely resembles something out of star trek

the japanese model is an exact replica of a SPAZ-12, and they're complaining the American model (a generic submachinegun) looks realistic.

Oh yeah, i heard the CE edition of DMC4 comes with replicas of Ebony and Ivory. I guess they should complain about that too.

Gee they sound like zippy with new games its broken,unpolished and unfisnied,whine,blah,whine,blah
:P

LOL

Apparently, the people complaining have never been to an arcade >_> . Light-gun games as faaaaaaar as the eye can see.

They say it will cause more violence? and that video games train you to kill? Look at the crime rate in Japan, they play as much video games as us it seems, but look at the difference.

@ Generic name,

Untrue, they also have far more violent entertainment, very... liberal porn and very little media sensationnalism.

For a country that allows people who are old enough to have a gun, with the local wallmart stocking them...I find this hilarious.

The shell isn't even as reastic as most other shells. One's in arcades which have been used for years..or ones at home which have been used for other consoles..most notible point blank and Time crisis. So why the hell would any issue be made over this?....hilarious ocne again.

@Anonymous

I'm talking mosaics. Sometimes pretty big ones.

Well next time I stop at wallmart to get a new hunting rifle I'll make sure to go over two lanes to the right so I could file an official complaint againts the wii zapper and all the violent games they sell there...[/sarcasm]

You know what is really amazing? That what I wrote above will make sence to a lot of people...

^ most airsoft guns are plastic, light and no blowback.
there are some guns, costing upwards of hundred dollars that are made of metal, gas powered, and has blowback. And can be fairly accurate. But all (most) resemble real life guns as far as feel in your hands

WII ZAPPER BAD. NES ZAPPER OK. Clearly, the stock must make all the difference.

Came in late, no time to read all the comments, but I'm sure they generally follow my sentiments, i.e.:

-Light gun games have been around for decades and remain a permanent fixture of non-age-restricted pocket-money-funded video arcades where most other previously popular genres have died out and/or migrated to consoles.

-Light guns have previously been far more physically convincing than the Wii Zapper, and the Wiimote's infra-red pointer functionality makes it significantly less precise a shot (hence the presence of cursors in Wii-based lightgunners.

-Toy manufacturers have been producing stuff like this for over a century. Apparently it's okay for kids to play-act racial bigotry with replica revolvers in games of cowboys and indians, but to hell with those who want to shoot a goddamn zombie.

And since the comment above mentions it, Airsoft take great pains to make their air guns look, feel and behave like their live-ammo equivalents with narry a complaint. And rightly so, since their product is simply a more in-depth version of paintball.

“I find it fascinating,” Hasbro’s then Chief Executive Officer Alan Hassenfeld said in “Timeless Toys,” a history, “how we can legislate toy guns, but we can’t legislate real guns.”

Isn't it obvious? Unless the Supreme Court reads the Second Amendment out of the Constitution, the only way to legislate guns away will be via a new Amendment repealing the Second. In the foreseeable future, there are only maybe four or five States who would go along with such a thing.

To achieve a supermajority will require conditioning several generations to hate and fear firearms. Hence the demonization of toy/video game guns, arresting first graders for drawing stick figures with guns, etc..

[...] Aux States, les gens débattent pour savoir si le Wii Zapper tout mignon de Zeldarbalète peut conduire à tuer des gens et des chatons. Pourquoi maintenant et pas à l’époque de Duck Hunt ? Parce que. Quel rapport entre un pistolet à eau et une AK47 ? Je sais pas, mettons, cinq kilos. « Les 25 meilleurs Mii de l’univers Aucune réaction pour le moment Votre réaction ?Oops ! Il y a eu un problème avec votre commentaire, il va falloir réessayer. Navré... pseudo (requis)email (obligatoire mais pas diffusé)site web [...]

I guess times have just changed. For the worse. Can anyone seriously imagine the Super Scope not being in some way linked to terrorist training if it were released today?

Also, to the NJ parents in question, I would like to propose the following challenge:

1. Go play a game with the Wii Zapper. The upcoming game GHOST Squad would make a great choice for this.
2. Go to your local shooting range and practice shooting with a real gun.
3. Tell us: Is shooting a real gun just like shooting a plastic one?

army trains on NES zapper! news at 11.

lots****

add:edit button..

They make this fuss over toy guns but are okay with real guns. Yeah, that makes sense.

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely fucking retarded, and it looks and functions nothing like a real firearm.

@illspirit

A little late, but here goes. All of those measures work against the cause of demonizing guns because they are far too obvious about it. If your censorship or downplaying efforts are obvious, they don't work. Serously, I made a gun gesture with my finger once and got pulled aside for it. Did that convince me to stop doing it? Hell no. It convinced me that I shouldn't get caught. Chances are, the US will have legal guns for centuries to come, if it lasts that long. After all, the nation was founded on guns and violence. It will continue with nothing less. Frankly, I think the "states that would outlaw guns" category actually contains one state: California.

@Dark
They outlawed any weapon .50 cal or larger.

To my knowledge the law didn't make exceptions for muzzle loading rifles, many of which are still popular, most of which are .50 cal.

Of course the caliber of the weapon doesn't have much to do with the actual power of the round, though larger caliber weapons tend to be more powerful.

edit

Not muzzle loaders, black powder rifles, which are implicitly muzzle loaders.

Yeah I know, its just there reasons for the law were hilariously stupid. People might shoot down planes with .50 cal rifles, oh the humanity, ect ect ect.

Of course Barret arms(The people who make the ever popular with the police and the military M82) won't service any of the .50 cals used by the California law enforcement.

So... we've had Time Crisis for how many years now?

Of all the...

Jesus Christ. You know, this should really be a non-issue. I mean seriously, things like this I just can't believe. Again, is this just another example of society wanting to turn our kids into pussies?

Like Icehawk said, this looks more like something out of Flash Gordon than a regular gun. And even then, it's not even a real gun. As Delta pointed out, it's just a shell for the nunchuck and the Wii-mote.

There are Nerf guns that are more realistic-looking than this thing, and where's the big hue and cry over those? For gods sake, we've got a Nerf sniper rifle out! Yet I don't hear anybody concerned that toy will train a bunch of kids to be Lee Boyd Malvo-style snipers later in life.

Jeez. Really people, get a sense of perspective. Sheesh!

You know, I've been training to go on a rampage by trying to shoot that Duck Hunt dog for years. Yeesh. I was fairly young when the NES and original Zapper came out so I'd like to go back in time and see what, if anything, was said back then. I can't remember hearing anything about the light guns on 16 bit systems and on so it must not have been too dangerous. Heck, the first controversy I remember hearing about was Night Trap and we know that's not a light gun game.

I'm the same age as Kharnivore, and I am so happy right now that my parents didn't shelter me like these people must shelter their children. It's even a little scary to consider if I had born a couple years later I would be one of those children. *shudder*

My dad taught me the proper use of guns as soon as I could understand and comprehend such things, I probably fired my first .22 caliber rifle at the age of 7. I received a .44 mag rifle for my 18th birthday (which I can't buy ammo for until I'm 21, lousy ammunition laws). I'm tired of the moral majority making so much legislation about things they could just not partake in. What ever happened to freedom of choice?

@Zachary Knight

Shotguns are measured in gauges, not caliber.

[...] Bron: GamePolitics.com [...]

Where were these people in 1985 when the FIRST zapper came out? Oh, and anouther thing, I don't think a lot of people realize that real submachine guns are EXPESIVE.

"Why don’t they enclose an application to the NRA in every box as well?"

That's actually not a bad idea. I'm not an NRA member myself, but I was taught to shoot by a friend and former Marine and U.S. Marshall.

If more people taught their kids basic gun safety and the consequences of using guns, I think you'd at least see fewer accidents, and at best fewer uses of guns for harming others.

@Sean
Really Ivory and Ebony, HOLY CRAP I'd be all over that like a depressed chick on cheese cake.

i think its a bit unrealistic. i think nintendo even went ouf of their way to make it look so unrealistic, to try prevent this argument. but the pety 'political correcness' people are trying to put their noses where it isnt needed.

i dont see warning signs in arcades which have gun games, or them even having an age limit. these people need to GROW UP!

I have a picture on my cell phone that will refute the HECK out of articles like these. I took it when these articles first started about the Wii Zapper. It is a picture that I need to find a place to post, so that I can tell these faux-journalists where to stick it.

It is a WalMart endcap selling cap guns.

It's very common to see the toy guns in stores, but no one cares. However, when you put it on a video game system, it is so much worse then running around and shooting at your friends in real life with a toy gun that actually LOOKS like a revolver.

Until they remove toy guns from retailers, they need to STFU about video game guns.

Until they remove beer from grocery stores, they need to STFU about M rated games in retailers.

Wanted to? I tried to every damn time.

Horror movies where people shoot, blow up and decaptiate zombies: Fun night at the cinima
Horror games where people shoot zombies: Murder simulator

Real life people shooting, torturing, blowing up and decapitating terroists: Heroic, Patriotism, defending freedom
Shooting at fictional terroists on a tv screen: Murder simulator

Real life people shooting, torturing, blowing up and decapitating Nazi's: Historic
Shooting at Nazi's on a TV screen: Murder simulator

Shooting, blowing up and decaptiating aliens: Popular movies
Shooting aliens on a TV screen: Murder Simulator

@ hilaryduffgta

I always tried to shoot that dog, never could though, it was the torment of my childhood.

@ Zachary Knight

I don't blame you, rifles and pistols are more fun. ;)

[“I find it fascinating,” Hasbro’s then Chief Executive Officer Alan Hassenfeld said in “Timeless Toys,” a history, “how we can legislate toy guns, but we can’t legislate real guns."]

Gee, maybe that's because toy guns aren't protected under the Second Amendment.

Oh, and did not know about it. Thanks for the information ...