By Leonard E. ColvinChief ReporterNew Journal and GuideA week after the deadly shooting at the Chesapeake Walmart on November 22, local political leaders are expressing their condolences to thevictims’ families and at the same time considering how legislative and other approaches can be adopted to curb such gun violence. Authorities identified the people killed as Randy Blevins, 70, Lorenzo Gamble, 43, Tyneka Johnson, 22, Brian Pendleton, 38, Kellie Pyle, 52, and Fernando Chavez-Barron, 16.The gunman was identified as Andre Bing, who was working as overnight “team lead.” The 31-year-old had been working for Walmart since 2010, the company said. Authorities have said he had one semi-automatic handgun and several ammunition magazines.The Chesapeake Wal Mart incident was the third mass shooting in Virginia in November, according to the Gun Violence Archive. On November 18, three UVA football students were shot to death on a bus they had been riding on from a field trip in Washington, D.C. In Richmond on November 13, four people were killed. On November 19, a 22-year-old suspect shot and killed five people at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and injured 19 others, authorities said.While the leaders in Virginia were releasing condolences and calls for prayers, the political reality of how such violence can be curved via legislation has been resonating, specifically among Democrats. The day after the shooting U.S. 3rd District Congressperson Robert Scott, according to staff, was fielding phone calls seeking updates on the shooting investigation and reaching out to civic leaders around the region Come January 3, the Republicans will take over the U.S. House. Scott says that any effort to pass gun control laws will not be welcomed by the GOP.He noted there have been some 600-mass shootings in the United States in the U.S.in 2022.In addition to that you have shootings that are not mass shootings,” he said during an interview on MSNBC. “We have a serious problem. The gun violence and shootings in America are not a result of any kind of super mental health problem in the United States.we don’t have any more mental health problems in the United States than anywhere else.”Conversations on the right lean to “mental illness,” and the repeated mentioning of “violent crime” leads them to blank-faced reflections without policy discussion, say those on the left. Many conservatives avoid or reject the topic because of pressure from the NRA. The Sunday night after the shooting, a large number of Virginia political leaders addressed nearly 1,000 people at The Mount, an African American church in Chesapeake. Many were State House and Senate members, all of whom will have to stand for election next November. State Senator Lionell Spruill, who represents District 5, which includes parts of Chesapeake, said he and other Democratic party lawmakers held a caucus meeting to discuss the possibility of passing legislation to address the issue shortly after that event at The Mount. Democrats have a 21-18 majority in the State Senat