If I pull this on a cop, will i get shot? Well, in NYC yes...then again, I am white...I should have a good chance of not being shot by the police for carrying a white piece of plastic that looks like a chlothes hangar. Huzzah indeed.

A cop would probably mistake it for a Brita water purifier, tell you that he's not thirsty and to move along.

Never underestimate the imaginations of vocal and influential people. If they say it looks like a deadly weapon, less free-thinking people will believe them.

Just like the virgin mary apparitions that appear. It just takes one person to say they can see it, and then you've got every god fearing person in the country thinking that it really does look like the virgin mary.

When in reality, its just a dirty stain on the footpath or someone's spilt food. :)

@Necros: I agree wholeheartedly.

One sentence in the WP article stood out: Last month the city of Springfield, Mass., sponsored a toy gun buyback, offering free ice cream to the 50 children who agreed to relinquish their squirt guns and fake laser pistols.

That one takes the cake. It reeks of the story from a month ago where Halo was being used to get kids to come to church. I feel immensely sorry for those fifty kids: ice cream is a fleeting, ephemeral pleasure, while toy guns can be enjoyed over and over forever (if they don’t break).

Actually, now that I look at it, the Wii zapper looks like a buck of plastic dils stuck together at odd angles so that three.....maybe four lesbians can use it.

@genfuyung

if you think my creativity is astounding, check this little thread I had about a month ago on Kotaku.

I don't even do drugs!
I was just in weird mood!

I still say this is much better.

Dude, the thing probably is a piece of shit and no one cares. We'll still buy it with the Zelda game, as it will probably be the best game released for use with it. I know Ghost Squad is supposed to be pretty good, but I'm sure it's not perfect. As for Resident Evil, I hear it doesn't work right with the game, as it only hinders your ability to play the game properly.

As for mistaking this to be a real gun or influencing kids to want real ones, that's just preposterous. It's almost scandalous to even consider such an inane and retarded idea. Jesus Christ, how often do you see all white guns being used in real life? If they hadn't noticed, most guns are black and some silver, and of course the ones with the brown wood trim and shit. People will do anything to bring attention to themselves and their cause, even if it means compromising their integrity. Look at Jack Thompson, who will probably be on TV bitching about this some time in the coming weeks. That guys's crazy. Just felt like throwing that out there.

And there you have it.

The wii remote hasn't exactly got precise aiming so this zapper looks like a total waste of time. The lack of ironsight, the way people are holding it at the waist in promo photos and the onscreen reticule in Links Crossbow Training should tell you all you need to know about the zapper.

"This just in, holding your thumb up and pointing your index finger out to be a shootable offence"

No thanks.

@Trevor McGee and ZekeThePlumber

Thanks for the pictures. Cool stuff.

People who think everything looks like a weapon make me want to pistol-whip them.

Damn, my first sentence was half-assed.

@ Angry Irish:
Yay! Common sense! Still, now that you've beaten me to it, you've turned my post from an informative ponder to a mild congratulatory praise. Well I'll still get my uninvited thoughts splattered all over your topics anyway.

I think we're all looking so hard to find people to categorise as being "the stupid" that we often end up missing the point of what they're actually saying. Although, to be fair, the article did seem rather biased. It also made me feel stupid, as most of the sentences in that seemed rambling and grammatically incorrect.

Actually, I'm having a hard time figuring this out. Jim Sterling, did you read the linked article as a page going against the zapper, or did you see the article the way I did?

I can't tell since your article is leaning towards both. This isn't right. I can fully understand Hesse's article, but I have to ask Sterling about what he wrote? Man, I feel dumb.

@Angry Irish

Yes, I understood where Monica was going with the article. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. I guess I was relying too much on trying to be subtle when I penned this sentence:

As Monica Hesse of the Washington Post seems to think, the Wii Zapper is poised to raise eyebrows on both sides of the argument when it lands in stores today.

Actually, the Roanoke times piece was pretty level-headed. Tying it into a short history on toy guns and their surround controversy was an interesting and fresh perspective.

The article was kinda skewed both ways rather than balanced, in my opinion - also it got some of its facts wrong. There's no such thing as 'B size' shot, 'BB' in BB gun stands for Ball Bearing. And some of the quotes they used are ridiculous. "They may as well include a membership to the NRA with every box!" Someone get this grandmother a Xanax. They don't have any quotes from parents who are in favor of getting the thing. In the end they say it 'won't shoot your eye out' but clearly they're cashing in on sensationalism. This sort of thing happens every time new gun peripherals emerge. Remember the Menacer? Seriously Sega, make a sci-fi lase-o-ray for your system with a collapsible stock and other deadly-looking attachments and call it the Menacer? As in 'menace to society'? Nintendo got away with that one since they called theirs the 'super scope' and referred to it as a 'pointing device' even though it was obviously a frickin' bazooka. It's all in the presentation. Ninty will get off scot free again because despite the rising sensational bullshit that continues to assault parenting with bad advice, they still have a family friendly image.

I love toy guns. Airsoft, Nerf, paintball, light guns - I loved them as a kid and still do. I've never fired a handgun, I support gun control, and my father taught me gun safety as a kid. I know a lot more about how not to kill someone than the average terrified-of-guns parent does - and that kind of training is what kids need (14 and 16 year olds like they reference in the article anyway) not protectionist parents who faint at the sight of a pistol grip.