Here's Windows 10's old, cartoonish gun emoji (left), and the new ... describing what the emoji should look like, for instance "FACE WITHOUT MOUTH" or "MOBILE PHONE WITH RIGHTWARDS ARROW AT ...
In the early days of online chatting people used different characters on the keyboard as a shortcut to convey an emotion. The happy face :) to convey happiness or joy. The frowny face :( to convey ...