Unicode describes the character as: "A gun emoji, more precisely a pistol. A weapon that has potential to cause great harm. This type of firearm is commonly he

Unicode describes the character as: "A gun emoji, more precisely a pistol. A weapon that has potential to cause great harm. This type of firearm is commonly held by police officers." http://emojipedia.org/pistol/ http://emojipedia.org/pistol/ EDIT: However, I am not sure how official is this source. unicode.org simple says its a "Pistol".