At first glance it seems like a well-crafted joke, but anti-gun organization New Yorkers Against Gun Violence have set their crosshairs on the iPhone\u2019s gun emoji, claiming that abolishing the tiny pixels is the first step towards showing America that it\u2019s citizens want even stricter gun control laws.<\/p>\n
The ad flashes a series of text-like messages, reading:<\/p>\n
\u201cWith 33,000 American deaths a year, gun violence has become a losing battle. Even our president has admitted defeat. But there\u2019s something we can do. There is a gun we all carry. That we can all give up. #DisarmTheiPhone. Tweet Apples\u2019 CEO @TimCook and ask to have the gun emoji removed. And by removing the gun emoji, we\u2019ll show America wants stricter access to real guns.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to see the connection between a gun emoji and \u201cstricter access to real guns.\u201d But the NYAGV seems adamant that the menacing virtual six-shooter has to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized that many Americans unknowingly carry a gun with them every day. The one that was given to them without a background check: the gun emoji,\u201d reads an open letter to Apple CEO Time Cook.<\/p>\n
What? Maybe they would feel more comfortable if iPhone users were subjected to a background check before their purchase. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe gun emoji has taken root in our culture and our digital conversations,\u201d said Leah Gunn Barrett, NYAGV executive director. \u201cLet\u2019s all call on Apple to get rid of the virtual gun and publicly join our call for universal background checks on all gun sales.\u201d<\/p>\n
If NYAGV is successful in their campaign against gun emojis, perhaps they\u2019ll next embark on banning the word \u201cgun\u201d from texts. <\/p>\n
If you\u2019re interested in learning more about how dangerous the gun emoji truly is, you can visit DisarmTheiPhone.com.<\/p>\n
(This article was a submission by freelance writer Brent Rogers<\/em>) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe gun emoji has taken root in our culture and our digital conversations,\u201d said Leah Gunn Barrett, NYAGV executive director. \u201cLet\u2019s all call on Apple to get rid of the virtual gun and publicly join our call for universal background checks on all gun sales.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":40605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[244,7,241,216,240],"tags":[132,122],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-2nd-amendment-r2kba","8":"category-gunsamerica-authors","9":"category-rapid-fire","10":"category-s-h-blannelberry","11":"category-this-week","12":"tag-buzz","13":"tag-r2kba"},"yoast_head":"\n