In a move that’ll surely curtail gun violence and bullying — not — Twitter has removed its pistol emoji and replaced it with a playful shamrock green water gun.
The change was announced earlier this week, with the rollout of its Twemoji 2.6 update.
“It certainly seems like the days of realistic gun emoji designs are numbered, and it’s quite likely that other vendors may follow suit in the near future,” the company said in its update.
Twitter’s decision comes in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students were killed. Several of the students, most prominently David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez, have since been lobbying for politicians to add stricter gun control laws — pushing the issue to the forefront of public discourse in the process with marches and demonstrations across the country.
Twitter didn’t stop at guns with its latest update, either. The company modified its blade emoji with a “more curved” design — making it look “more clearly like a chef’s knife.”
10 Celebs Who Follow Way Too Many People on Twitter (Photos)
Even for the most Twitter-obsessed of us, we've all been through those spring cleaning periods where we decide to tidy up our followers. But a handful of celebrities have no qualms when it comes to following people en masse. So how many is too many? We know it when we see it. If you're on Twitter with even semi-regularity, it's likely that these people will follow you back, or maybe they already do.
Getty Images
Melissa Joan Hart - @MelissaJoanHart - 192K Following, 721K Followers
Melissa Joan Hart is a massive Alabama football fan, and if you want a follow, you might consider showing your support for the team. Or better yet, commit to be a player there.
Getty Images
Anthony Scaramucci - @scaramucci - 304K Following, 862K Followers
Anthony Scaramucci follows nearly one third of those who follow him, including TheWrap and many of its staffers. It's not just journalists he follows in that 300,000 either.
Katy Perry still has the edge over Bieber in total followers, but then she follows just more than 200 people compared to Justin's 316,000. Still, it's a small fraction of the millions who've followed him back.
Britney might need to step up her following game, because in 2017 she fell out of the Top 10 most-followed people on Twitter, behind Kim Kardashian West.
You may think Soledad O'Brien is following way too many people to notice, but believe it or not, she's payingattention.
Soledad O'Brien
Barack Obama - @BarackObama - 625K Following, 100M Followers
Obama is the third most followed person on Twitter. He's been criticized in the past for who he follows, but that hasn't stopped him from adding more to his stable.
Taye Diggs may be the first famous example of an over-follower. After his immense number of follows became an Internet mystery in 2014, he explained he hired a "social network dude" who followed people for him and used Twitter as a news "ticker" rather than just to disseminate information. And that ticker keeps getting more dense.
Getty Images
Yoko Ono - @yokoono - 932K Following, 5.04M Followers
Back in 2011, Yoko Ono held the record for following the most people on Twitter, even surpassing President Obama.
Getty Images
Jose Bautista - @JoeyBats19- 988K Following, 1.27M Followers
The king of bat flips is also one of the kings of Twitter. The Toronto Blue Jays player tweeted that he'll follow anyone who gives him a retweet or talks about baseball and raises awareness of the game.
Getty Images
Lil B THE BASEDGOD - @LILBTHEBASEDGOD - 1.69M Following, 1.54M Followers
More so than the rapper himself, it's Lil B's alter ego The BasedGod that has cultivated a network of memes and emojis that have made him Internet royalty, and the rapper has returned the favor to all his followers and then some.
Getty Images
1 of 11
How many is too many? Just ask Anthony Scaramucci, Taye Diggs and Yoko Ono
Even for the most Twitter-obsessed of us, we've all been through those spring cleaning periods where we decide to tidy up our followers. But a handful of celebrities have no qualms when it comes to following people en masse. So how many is too many? We know it when we see it. If you're on Twitter with even semi-regularity, it's likely that these people will follow you back, or maybe they already do.
Getty Images
Getty Images
