The gun emoji is officially being axed after rise in gun violence

Seemingly stating its stance on the controversial gun issue in the United States, Apple has announced an update to its emoji line for its upcoming mobile OS, iOS 10.

While Apple did not directly address the squirt gun emoji or the pistol replacement in its press release Monday, it did write that it is “working closely with the Unicode Consortium to ensure that popular emoji characters reflect the diversity of people everywhere”. “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”.

In June, Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled iOS 10 for iPhones and iPads on the opening day of the annual Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.

Apple is canning its gun emoji following the wave of gun violence to hit the US.

Apple has yet to specifically comment on the decision to replace the gun emoji.

The revolver image was redesigned, and the weapon was changed to a water pistol which has caused some reactions. Teenagers in the USA have been arrested for using the pistol in social media posts that were considered threatening, and in France, a court ruled using the emoji could be considered a death threat.

Shiv Putcha, an associate director at a market intelligence firm, told CNBC he also believes the move is a clear signal by Apple of where they stand on the issue of gun control. A Texas teenager was arrested in 2015 over what police said was a tweet that allegedly threatened officers with a gun emoji, according to Texas Monthly. Though the charges were ultimately dropped, these incidents nonetheless show how the use of the emoji can be interpreted as a legitimate threat. The man in that incident was eventually sentenced to three months in prison.