Last week a nine-year-old boy brought an unloaded handgun, a magazine with six bullets inside, a steak knife and a small sledge hammer to his Orlando-area elementary school. During the boy's first court appearance on Friday, his father claims the boy was preparing himself against a zombie invasion. The dad says his son had simply been playing too much Minecraft.
Minecraft, an E-rated indie video game from Sweden, isn't particularly known for its violence. It's mostly known for its building and world creation abilities, but, yes, there are some things to occasionally fight off in the game. Though, the characters do not use handguns and steak knifes to do so. Guns aren't even available unless the user is playing a modified version of the open-source game. In other words, this isn't Grand Theft Auto V we're talking about here.
School officials were alerted after the boy showed three other boys his weapon's arsenal. He was charged with possession of a firearm on school grounds, possession of a concealed weapon and possession of a firearm by a minor.
The gun came from his father's home, and a judge ordered that his parents keep all weapons away from and out of reach of the boy.
The boy was sentenced to home confinement.