A Nation Unwilling to Change: by Lance L. Pinamonte

Lance Lincoln Pinamonte

I am now an old man, with only memories of simpler times, when as a young boy, I was taken out on a Saturday afternoon for some target practice, shooting cans off of fence posts far out on the high plains with my Uncle.

The lessons passed down from generation to generation, the basics of gun safety, hunting, and responsibility still ring in my ears..

Then times changed.  At seventeen, taking the place of my Uncle, a Drill Sargent was screaming in my ear about the difference between a Gun and a Weapon! 

The same message was present: safety and responsibility, however, the hunting part had changed. We were now hunting humans. 

I could sugarcoat the message and say we were defending our country, but we were thousands of miles away from our country.  We were the front lines against Communism, a system we had been conditioned to dislike.  The truth was, most of us didn't even know the meaning of the word.. 

So, we pushed the child beggars away in the streets, gave them candy bars instead of meals, moved whole villages to the city slums, defoliated their landscape, and we put our chosen leaders in charge.

We also did good. We built schools, hospitals, and tried to promote freedom, introducing democracy to a people, who in many cases, could not understand what it meant. 

As we did these things, we were never far away from our firearms.  We slept, ate, and spent every day with a weapon by our side. We kept them clean and we kept several hundred rounds of ammunition close at hand.

Guns as a Security Blanket

These firearms were our closest companions, our security blankets -- but they were security blankets with bullet holes.  Most of us saw first-hand what these security blankets were capable of. 

Some of us held our friends while their blood ran into the Vietnamese soil. Many are still haunted by the faces and names of those who once laughed and lived and fought beside us. 

We held our weapons closer, kept them cleaner, but men still died. Everyone had a weapon and yet no one was safer ...

So this brings me to today. I own firearms and they are kept clean and secure. I do not shoot often and I do not hunt anymore. It is hard for me, because I know what it feels like to be hunted. 

The right granted by the Second Amendment of our Constitution comes with great responsibility. It is not there to back armed rebellion. We have a system that is capable of overthrowing governments. It is called the VOTE. The firearms we own are for protection of this system of democracy, our homes, our property, and our families.

All this being said, it is no longer the 1950's.  Many gun owners are not passing gun safety and responsibility along to their youth.  Mental health is paramount to responsible gun ownership, and our population has grown way beyond what our nation's founders could ever imagine. 

We have powerful organizations that promote gun ownership, and groups that promote the absence of guns. Both are acting like selfish children. Those in power are passing feel-good measures that do nothing to slow gun violence.  The other organizations are promoting more guns as a safe solution.

Change is always hard.  The solution is very plain -- but no one wants to back it. First we need to scrap all of the present gun laws on the books.  They amount to nothing more than putting a Bandaid on a bleeding artery. 

Licensing of gun owners:  you must have training on safety, responsibility, liability, as well as a mental/criminal background check. Once you have this license, you can carry open, or concealed, and own as many firearms as you want. These weapons can be sold, gifted, or passed on, but only to another licensed person. We must be trained and licensed to drive a car -- it should be much the same with firearms.

More guns is not the answer, but no guns is not the answer either. The security blanket of gun ownership is getting very ragged and it needs to be repaired ... 

God Bless America.

Lance Lincoln Pinamonte

Lance Lincoln Pinamonte
U.S. Army - 1967 to 1970
67N30 Crewchief/Doorgunner Helicopter Mech.
Champagne Flight

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale


Feel free to comment on this post. You are also invited to write about anything you want to share. Memoirs From Nam is YOUR blog. You are writing America's history.

Send it to me in an e-mail and I will be proud to post it for you.