Hunting Rifle Emoji Ignites Concern Among Campaigners Who Say It Will 'Popularise' The Weapon

The New Emojis Have Got People Worried For All The Right Reasons

Campaigners have raised concerns around a new batch of proposed emojis that includes a hunting rifle.

A spokesperson for InferTrust, an organisation that seeks to raise awareness about the misuse of guns, has said the rifle emoji could popularise the weapon.

The image was included in a list of 67 characters proposed by The Unicode Consortium, the official organisation responsible for the list of emojis we use on our phones.

If approved the new emojis will be available to use from next year.

Chrissie Hall of InferTrust said: "It would offensive to many people who have been injured or affected by gun incidents."

"It would be familiarising and popularising the image of a weapon which is not a good idea..." she told the BBC.

However, readers on Reddit pointed out: "…does this group know there's already a gun emoji?

There's also a cigarette which kills far more people in a year than a hunting rifle ever will…"

Opinion on Twitter swayed for and against the emoji:

Other emojis on the proposed list include a call me hand signal and a selfie.

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