Photo: David Zalubowski/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Kaylee Tyner, 17, doesn’t have any direct experience with gun violence. But as a current senior at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, she feels its lingering shadow over her town every day.
“I’ve seen firsthand how it doesn’t go away — how it continues to affect your community even two decades later,” she tells PEOPLE.
The campaign asks people to agree to allow graphic images of their dead bodies to be released to the public in the event that they die in a mass shooting. “By pledging to share your photo, and presenting the world with the harsh reality of gun violence, you have an opportunity to create change through opening up a new dialogue on this issue,” theMyLastShot websitereads.
Image of the sticker from #MyLastShot.SASs Photography
Students can print out or order a sticker fromthe siteto affix to their license, ID, or phone, which reads: “In the event that I die from gun violence please publicize the photo of my death.”
“The graphic images of [Till’s] open casket helped to spark the civil rights movement,” Tyner says. “The more I thought about that, and how we [usually] only see the victims’ faces — we never really see the horrific aspects of gun violence — is when I started to think of the idea for the project.”
Kaylee Tyner.David Zalubowski/AP/REX/Shutterstock
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Though #MyLastShot is still gaining steam, Tyner says it is attracting attention from notable legislators likeColorado State Rep. Tom Sullivan, whose son was killed in the Aurora shooting. “He has shown a lot of support for the project,” Tyner says. “He actually keeps pictures of his son and how he died on his phone to show people.”
Tyner says she shipped about 4,000 stickers to students and gun violence prevention groups prior to the campaign’s March 27 launch. “We’ve been having more people print them out from our website and order them as well,” she says, emphasizing that the campaign is for everyone, regardless of background or political affiliation. “I’m just hoping that the project will continue to grow and expand.”
“It’s supposed to make you think. It’s supposed to make you uncomfortable,” she explains. “If you’re uncomfortable with the thought of these images being released, then you also need to be uncomfortable with the fact that gun violence is as much of an issue as it is in our country.”
source: people.com
