Billionaire Elon Musk today posted a mysterious gun emoji on his social media platform X, shortly after President Joe Biden spoke out about rising gun violence in the US.
“More children are killed by gunshot wounds than anywhere else in America,” Biden said in his farewell speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“This is why Kamala (Harris) and I are so proud to pass major gun legislation … now is the time to ban assault weapons,” Biden told the gathering, less than a month after dropping out of the White House race against Donald Trump and passing the torch to his vice president.
While Biden was speaking, Musk, who officially endorsed Trump last month, posted a post filled with emojis on X but did not elaborate. The emojis were of guns and a man dancing.
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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2024
“The discontinuation of the use of the gun emoji in 2016 was a sign of the rise of the woke brain virus,” he said in another post.
In the past he has described an “awakened brain virus” as a threat to “modern civilization”.
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In 2016, Apple first changed its gun emoji from a realistic-looking revolver to a water pistol after a mass shooting in the US. Samsung, WhatsApp and Google also later adopted the water pistol emoji.
Twitter, now X, started using water pistols in 2018. However, it recently replaced the “water pistol” emoji — which was depicted as a colorful child’s toy — with an emoji depicting an actual gun.
gun violence in america
According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a website that tracks shootings in the United States, more than 10,000 people have been killed so far this year due to “intentional, malicious or accidental shootings.”
At least 19 people have been killed in 352 mass shootings in the US so far this year. 40 people were killed in 656 mass shootings in 2023, according to GVA.
More than 900 children aged 17 or under have been killed in shootings this year, including 154 children under the age of 11, according to the GVA.
