Apple Will Swap Out The Pistol Emoji For A Squirt Gun

The change comes after gun-control advocates asked for the pistol to be removed, but some emoji users were unimpressed by the new symbol.

By
Claudia Koerner
by Claudia Koerner

BuzzFeed News Reporter

Apple will trade the pistol emoji for a toy squirt gun when iOS 10 is released to iPhone and iPad users this fall.

Apple / Via emojipedia.org

The company announced the change on Monday as part of a series of updates that aim to make emojis more diverse.

Apple / Via apple.com

"This exciting update brings more gender options to existing characters, including new female athletes and professionals, adds beautiful redesigns of popular emoji, a new rainbow flag and more family options," an Apple statement said.

The change came after advocacy group New Yorkers Against Gun Violence called for Apple to #disarmtheiphone.

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence / Via disarmtheiphone.com

In an open letter to Apple, the group called on the company to take a stand for stricter gun laws.

"We ask that you stand with the American people and remove the gun emoji from all your products as a symbolic gesture to limit gun accessibility," the letter said. "We understand taking the emoji out will not end gun violence, but this act will show Congress that gun-owning and non-owning Americans have come together to demand required background checks for ALL gun sales."

In June, Apple also spoke up in a Unicode meeting against a proposed rifle emoji.

Unicode

Members unanimously agreed, and the rifle emoji was shelved.

Microsoft also spoke out against a rifle emoji, a Unicode member told BuzzFeed at the time. Since last year, Microsoft's Windows 10 has displayed the pistol emoji as a toy gun.

Emojipedia / Via emojipedia.org

On Twitter, people were kind of 🙄 about the change.

Antonio Delgiacco @ADDelgiacco

Finally. Too many emoji lives have been lost at the hands of emoji guns. https://t.co/5QYB5u8B99

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♣️jacob♠️ @jchxvez

Apple is getting rid of the gun emoji. What do they think, this 🔫 is gonna randomly shoot them in the face?

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smelf2 @smelf2

folks gonna send 🌊 🔫 emojis w/ the same intent as the regular 🔫 emoji. emojis make people kill about as much as an actual firearm does. smh

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Adam Roe @Petrol_325

How the fuck am I meant to shoot my emoji self with a water gun???

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