This is when Atticus gives Jem and Scout their airguns.This part tells Jem and Scout that their father believes that they should not hurt anything that has not done anything to you or done any harm to anybody for that matter. I think that is what Atticus meant when he said to not shoot mockingbirds. The only things mockingbirds do is sing and try to feed themselves. When I first read this, I was not sure what this was about. I started reading the passage when Scout hears about the trial of Mr. Robinson, I started to connect the two elements. I was starting to relate Mr. Robinson to the mockingbird, I think Tom Robinson has not hurt anybody and all he does is bust up chiffarobes for the country folk . Not only is he a black man ( which, at the time, was a big disadvantage) but he was tempted by a white woman. So he is helpless, like the mockingbird. I do not believe that Ms Lee used the title literaly but that she refers to Tom Robinson as the mockingbird. And thus it is a sin to kill a helpless person.