A movement that began among students of Columbine High School in Colorado seeks a new emphasis in publicizing the horrific results of gun violence. Tired of seeing each new American mass shooting fade into the background noise of our discourse only a few weeks after the funerals are held, the students want to make sure their own potential deaths in a future shooting are not swept under the rug, but broadcast for all to see—the full effects of America's shootings, in detail.
The #MyLastShot campaign encourages students across the country to attack a sticker to their ID or other belongings that requests that, in the event of their death by gun violence, the images of their bodies be made public and distributed as evidence of the brutal results of the nation's willingness to overlook such massacres. The students and other movement participants will, if it comes to that, make themselves the example that America needs to see.
#MyLastShot founder Kaylee Tyner told CNN in an interview that she was inspired by the death of Emmett Till.
"His parents insisted the world see the imagery of his death," she said, adding that the image "exposed the racial divide in our country and helped usher in the civil rights movement."
Columbine High School has, of course, its own history of mass violence. In April of 1999, two school seniors killed twelve students and a teacher, wounding 21 others, before turning their guns on themselves. America's gun laws, however, did not change.
You can order or print the #MyLastShot sticker here.