Today I am inspired and hopeful. I support background checks for all gun purchases. But national and regional politicians continue to not have the courage to vote for background checks, despite the fact that the vast majority of us want this.

I attended a fund-raiser for Washington Alliance for Responsible Guns. I sat among 1,200 people of all ages, color, religion and politics — the Alliance. Dynamic speakers shared the message: “It’s well past time for this legislation.

If Congress doesn’t have it in them to make this country a safer place, then we’ll do this one state at a time.”

An initiative movement has begun and we can and will be heard at the grassroots level.

Susan Vossler, Kirkland