After all the controversy surrounding the lack of guns in the first season of HBO Max's Looney Tunes Cartoons, the series' second season has given Elmer Fudd his weapon of choice back.The segment "Rotund Rabbit," the first half of Season 2, Episode 6, opens with Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny with his hunting rifle. Elmer shoots at Bugs, but in a classically wacky Looney Tunes gag, Bugs runs so fast that the bullet pauses in midair and, growing a mouth and arms, breathes heavily and announces "That's it, I quit!" The bullet turns around, putting on a hat and carrying a suitcase.RELATED: Tweety Mysteries Is a Live-Action Show With an Animated Tweety Bird

Peter Browngardt, the executive producer of Looney Tunes Cartoons and the creator of the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa and Super Mountain Fort Awesome, made note of this change in standards after viewers had already taken note of it. Quote-tweeting a fan who shared a clip of the shooting scene from "Rotund Rabbit," Browngardt said "New Looney Tunes Cartoons out today! Now with guns!"

When the first batch of Looney Tunes Cartoons episodes premiered alongside HBO Max's launch last year, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam were no longer allowed to carry guns, utilizing other weapons instead. Browngardt told the New York Times "We're not doing guns... But we can do cartoony violence –TNT, the Acme stuff." The lack of guns was generally attributed to concerns that it was harder to make gun violence funny in the current social climate.

What caused this change in standards and when it occurred is as of this moment unknown. Looney Tunes Cartoons has been in development so long that one Season 2 segment ("Mummy Dummy") actually made its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival all the way back in 2019, so it's possible these gun-using episodes were already in development when Season 1 premiered. Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam's guns feature prominently in the promotional materials for the movie Space Jam: A New Legacy, coming to theaters and HBO Max on July 16, so perhaps that film's development eased Warner Bros. and HBO Max's concerns about the inclusion of cartoon gun violence.

Looney Tunes Cartoons is a revival of the original Looney Tunes shorts, bringing back the franchise's classic characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Wile E. Coyote to feature in fast-paced, zany cartoons.

Developed by Peter Browngardt, Looney Tunes Cartoons stars the voices of Eric Bauza, Jeff Bergman, Bob Bergen, Fred Tatasciore and more. The series' second season is now available on HBO Max.

KEEP READING: How Batman Was Duped by Bugs Bunny - TWICE!