SAN FRANCISCO — You no longer have the right to bear emoji arms.
Apple removed the pistol emoji and replaced it with a bright-green water gun in its newest iOS 10 operating system for iPads and iPhones.
The change was part of more than 100 new emoji characters introduced Monday. Other changes include adding female and racial preferences to existing professions, family options for single parents and a pride flag.
Gun-control advocacy group New Yorkers Against Gun Violence has been actively lobbying Apple to remove the gun emoji using their #DisarmtheiPhone movement. The group's Leah Guynn Barrett said that she recognizes changing an emoji will not stop gun violence in the country but that Apple made a symbolic statement to politicians and other tech companies.
"Apple is doing what they can to be responsible, and Congress needs to also do what it needs to do," Barrett said.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant has spoken out against gun emojis in the past.
Apple spearheaded a movement to remove the rifle emoji from the newest Unicode release, company spokespeople told BuzzFeed. The rifle and modern pentathlon — a sport that includes shooting — were the only two emojis not approved in Unicode 9.0 but still made the cut as black-and-white “Unicode characters.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook led a moment of silence to honor those killed by gun violence in an Orlando nightclub in June during the World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
