By Jim Irvine

When seconds count, police are only minutes away. It’s an old cliché, but every day we have a “news” story that illustrates it's truth.

What if a school full of children are being murdered by a killer with a gun? What if police were there, but they waited outside? What if your child died as a result? For too many parents, these are not "what if" questions. They are living with the grief. With that knowledge, why would you just wait and hope it does not happen to your child? Love requires that you get involved on your child’s behalf.

The situation – a killer is in a school or church or other gathering place. He has a gun and is killing innocent, unarmed people. Seconds go by and another life is lost. If one was killed as you started reading this story, it may be time for another to be shot. At Virginia Tech, a person was shot every 15 seconds. More than 3 out of 4 died every minute. When will society decide that enough is enough? Sadly, I fear it will not be in time to save the innocent lives lost to the next mass murderer. But there is a solution.

We all understand that police can not be everywhere, but why would police wait after arriving on the scene of an ongoing school shooting? Because they were told to. New information is changing how police respond.

The Ashland Times-Gazette is reporting that National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told a crowd at Ashland University last week that historic victories for gun rights occurred in 2008, but the fight for firearm freedoms must continue to preserve the Second Amendment.

Speaking at the Major Issues Lecture Series at the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs, LaPierre told listeners that despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down a handgun ban in Washington D.C., which affirmed the individual right to keep and bear arms, there is a battle for firearms ownership in America. He said an "elite ruling class" of anti-gun politicians has "declared war on our individual rights" by trying to restrict Americans' ability to keep and bear arms.