In a letter to the editor published on March 7, Deo T. Hardman suggested that Democrats do not know what is in the Constitution, and offered to enlighten everyone on the subject ["Law shields gun owners from the control gang"]. The exposition that followed made it clear that Hardman is the one who does not understand the Constitution. Please allow this life-long Democrat to clear up some misunderstandings that Hardman presented.

The Constitution includes no "Senate Amendment 3276, Sec. 2716, part C." The Constitution of the United States has only 27 amendments. Further, the Senate cannot unilaterally amend the Constitution. Amendments must be passed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by two-thirds of the states, and must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. This information is taught in 12th-grade government classes, and students who wish to graduate from public high schools in the commonwealth of Virginia are required to pass these government classes.

The amendment that should have been referenced is, of course, the Second Amendment, which was ratified in 1791 and states, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." This Democrat therefore happily supports the right of every American who is a member of a well-regulated militia to keep and bear any and all arms that had been invented in 1791, in keeping with the clear intent of the framers of the Second Amendment.

Karen Pitts

Spotsylvania