Emojis are used by many of us for many different purposes, yet, in 2016, Apple changed its gun emoji (a revolver) to a squirt gun.
But now Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), has done away with the squirt gun and has put an illustration of a Model 1911 pistol in its place.
Last year, a software engineer at X posted, “update on x … the gun emoji was returned back into its rightful form: an m1911.”
Speaking of this very change on his most recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Musk noted the 2016 change and Rogan, unaware X had already implemented its own change, asked if Musk could bring the gun back.
“If you use a gun emoji on X, Apple insists that it be a squirt gun and then the X app turns it back into a 1911,” said Musk in the interview [start at 1:19:30 in the video]. “You can actually, you know, have a 1911 gun. We reverted the Apple change inside the app.”
Musk’s embrace of this American freedom has been ignored by most media outlets—though a few mocked it.
“Nerfing of the gun emoji matches rise of the woke mind virus, as a core tenet is equating fake harm with real harm,” posted Musk on X.
The reality is that American gun ownership is normal, common and constitutionally protected.
“Flick through your emoji keyboard on almost every platform or device, from Apple to Android, and you’ll come across a colorful water pistol among the smiley faces and flags. But not any longer on X, formerly Twitter, which has switched the cartoon-like water pistol for a gunmetal firearm that looks disturbingly realistic,” reported Fast Company of the change in a piece titled, “Elon Musk ditched the water gun for a pistol emoji on X. It’s a worrying shot in the culture wars.”
No, not worrying. It is honest. The right to keep and bear arms should not be censored or watered down into a squirt gun.
