RABBIA MOLAI
managing editor
rabbia.molai@my.tccd.edu

While getting ready one day, NE student Ana Duran faced the scariest situation that any parent could imagine.

Duran was in her room when she asked her mother to put her young daughter down for a nap. As her mother took the girl into her room, she suddenly felt strange about putting her granddaughter in her crib. Instead, she chose to lay down some blankets and put her on the floor. She may not have known it then, but that split-second decision saved her granddaughter’s life. 

Within a minute, someone drove down Duran’s street, opening fire on the row of houses. One bullet went directly through her daughter’s bedroom window and landed on the floor outside her door.

Before hitting the floor, the bullet went through the crib, the same crib Duran’s daughter would have been sleeping in had her grandmother not trusted her gut instincts.

Unfortunately, for Duran and her family, the sound of gunshots was not unfamiliar.

“As a parent, it is scary. I have been in two drive-bys,” Duran said. “First, one being

early afternoon, two of my kids ages 4 and 5 were walking out the front door to go play outside when a car passed through shooting. Bullets hit the house right above their heads. Now, any lower or them being taller, they would have got hit.”

Having one shooting experience was scary enough, but after the second, Duran was so petrified that the only way she could sleep was low to the ground with her children in the same room.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas had over 4,000 gun-related deaths in 2020. On Aug. 29, two boys aged 17 and 5 were killed in a drive-by shooting in Fort Worth. Along with them, an 18-month-old was injured. 

According to students, as sad as these tragedies are, they seem to just be daily occurrences at this point.

“It’s always devastating when a shooting happens, and most certainly when people lose their lives,” NE student Keylynn Jenkins said. “It has honestly happened so much in the past few months that I’m not surprised anymore. It’s sad to feel this way, but it’s almost like the new ‘normal.’”

Along with feeling the country’s desensitization to these acts of violence, some students also felt a need to try and come up with solutions to end the gun violence they see so often for fear of who might get hurt next.

“I was aware of the shooting that happened, and my first thought was, ‘I hope it wasn’t anybody I know,’” NE student Julian Herrera said.

Since he graduated from high school in 2020, Herrera has lost four classmates to gun violence. He spoke about wishing he could find a solution to end gun violence in America.

“I would love to see the banning of assault rifles and extensive yearly background checks for gun owners with the possibility of mandatory training like for a driver’s license,” Herrera said. “Gun violence is such a prevalent problem in America because guns are legal.”

Much like Herrera, NE student Katherine Beltran also thinks more needs to be done to fix the problem

“I think if people, in general, are worried about the state of the country and how it’s falling apart with senseless violence, we need to do a whole lot more than relying on ‘sending our thoughts and prayers,’” Beltran said.

For student like Duran, until the changes are made the fear will continue to live on in the back of their minds

“It’s a life-changing experience,” Duran said. “It leaves you scared to live your normal life.”