Dear VBA member,
I feel compelled to speak on behalf of the VBA and say that there are simply no words to express the shock, horror and anger that many of us feel about the massacre of children and teachers (and the injuries to so many others, including first responders) in Uvalde, Texas. All of our prayers are with everyone in Texas touched by this senseless tragedy and to our country as we have experienced numerous mass and school shootings in 2022. The Uvalde massacre comes only days after a shooting spree in a Buffalo, New York, grocery cost 10 people their lives and injured three others.

"Chilling Details Emerge After Attack Shakes Rural Texas Town" (The New York Times online May 26, 2022). These headlines have become all too common in America. In fact, on Monday, May 23, 2022 – the day before this shooting occurred – The Roanoke Times published "Analysis: Mass death now part of American fabric."

Ponder this for a moment.

I do not have the answers, but I do know that as lawyers who support an orderly and safe society, we have to search for opportunities to ask the right questions about this issue and then seek to find the answers. Twenty-seven school shootings and over 210 mass shootings in our country to date – that’s a dictate that we have work to do. Please continue to pray for all who have been affected by this senseless wave of violence and, if you are so moved, search out opportunities to find solutions to this national epidemic – before it happens again. I wish you all safety and peace.

Sincerely,
Victor O. Cardwell
President, The Virginia Bar Association

Virginia's congressional delegation

U.S. Senators
Mark Warner – https://warner.senate.gov
Tim Kaine – https://kaine.senate.gov

U.S. Representatives

1st-Rob Wittman – https://wittman.house.gov
2nd-Elaine Luria – https://luria.house.gov
3rd-Bobby Scott – https://bobbyscott.house.gov
4th-Donald McEachin – https://mceachin.house.gov
5th-Bob Good – https://good.house.gov
6th- Ben Cline – https://cline.house.gov
7th-Abigail Spanberger – https://spanberger.house.gov
8th-Don Beyer – https://beyer.house.gov
9th-Morgan Griffith – https://morgangriffith.house.gov
10th-Jennifer Wexton – https://wexton.house.gov
11th-Gerry Connolly – https://connolly.house.gov