Parkland father Andrew Pollack says Americans need to be armed for self-defense, because when seconds count “first responders are minutes away.”

Pollack’s daughter, Meadow, was killed in the February 14, 2018, attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Pollack told Fox News, “I was never such a pro-Second Amendment type of guy until this happened to my daughter and I saw how she became such a victim on that third floor and no one came to help her.”

He added, “The police weren’t there. Security wasn’t there.”

On November 21, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri–head of the commission that examined the Parkland shooting–called for teachers to be armed to prevent the loss of life that occurred in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas attack. The Associated Press quoted Gualtieri saying, “People need to keep an open mind to it as the reality is that if someone else in that school had a gun it could have saved kids’ lives.”

Gualtieri’s point and Pollack’s point are the same.

But Pollack does go further by talking about victims in mass public attacks that took place in locations other than schools. He notes how the victims are often “cowering” once the gunman opens fire. He said it should not be so. Rather, people ought to be able to defend themselves.

Pollack stressed that individuals need to be able to protect themselves between the time that an attack starts and police arrive to take the gunman out. He said, “That is why I am such a believer in the Second Amendment and I will never let one of my friends or loved ones be victim, like what happened to my daughter on that third floor.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.