New Jersey's The Star-Ledger ran a poll on its "Parental Guidance" blog earlier this week, asking its readers to comment on Nintendo's Wii Zapper, a peripheral meant to house the Wii remote and nunchuck in a vaguely rifle-like shape. Describing it as a "gun-like remote" and a "wand in the shape of a weapon" certainly didn't help matters, as the poll was duly inundated by parents wary of their children becoming vicious, gun-toting mini-gangsters.

One reader inadvertently praised Nintendo's clumsy plastic shell design by failing to discern a difference between it (see above image) and a real weapon. "Great, this is what we need. Children with guns learning how to aim and shoot. Then we can sit back and wonder what is happening to our country with kids killing kids......what's next?" A fair question to ask, especially when you're a powerless parent forced to sit back and wonder "what is happening" in a world where video games poison our armed children. Not that the Zapper can teach anybody to operate a gun on the outset -- it's really more of crossbow training tool.

Another parent was a little more introspective and wondered, "What kind of message are we sending as parents when we buy these things for our kids?" Aside from highlighting mommy's inability to say "No, you can't have that," past experience with the Zapper would reveal the message to be a compelling argument for hunting ducks and, failing that, any stupid-looking dogs in the neighborhood. Kids shoot the darndest things.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]