• by Fern Siegel , February 14, 2024

The Shotline is marking Valentine's Day in a serious way.

The organization is an automated platform and campaign that uses AI tech to recreate the voices of innocent victims of gun violence. They include Joaquin Oliver, 17, killed by an AR-15 atMarjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, and Uziyah Garcia, 10, killed alongside 18 classmates and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The Shotline campaign begins at a rally outside of The Capitol on Feb. 14, six years to the day of the Parkland shooting. It runs on digital, microsites, social media, a congressional press conference, streaming audio, OOH and guerilla stickers.

MullenLowe is the agency behind the call to action, in partnership with Change the Ref, a gun-reform nonprofit, and March for Our Lives, a national youth movement fighting to end gun violence.

The agency utilized audio supplied by victims’ families and deep machine learning to create a computerized version of each victim's voice, which carries a personal, haunting message that details their death.

Each message will be sent as a call directly to lawmakers demanding real action on the scourge of gun violence, the leading cause of death for children — for the third year in a row. Most politicians refuse to confront the problem, offering only perfunctory "thoughts and prayers."

The campaign has a simple premise: parents, survivors and advocates for gun control can go to www.shotline.org. Type in your ZIP code, select the representatives in your district(s) and send the call.

"We can all hear our kids' voices in our heads,” said Mike Song, who lost his son, Ethan. “Why shouldn't lawmakers have to hear them too?"