Update

I am personally very dedicated to the national Quaker lobby organization, the Friends Committee on National Legislation. For most of the past twenty-five years I have attended their annual meeting in D.C., and I joined the 2020 event online from home where gathered for four days of worship, organizational meetings, and to virtually lobby of our elected officials.

Gun purchases have consistently been rising since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In late March and early April, fear about the pandemic and its potentially destabilizing effects caused an initial spike in gun sales. A second spike happened over the summer, motivated by the civil unrest and protests in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And in just the past couple months we’ve seen another spike due to uncertainty and fears of violence surrounding the presidential election and its aftermath.

Each month, FCNL brings individual Friends’ witness in the world into conversation with Quaker advocacy work through our Quaker Changemaker event series. Here are some highlights from this past years’ events.

Thanks to your persistent advocacy, Congress finally agreed to a compromise that meets the urgent needs of our most vulnerable neighbors.

While much in the world is different, one thing has remained the same: the drive of young adults to advocate and affect change.

The Line 3 pipeline is harmful to the environment, disregards indigenous sovereignty, and poses a serious public health threat.

Included in the National Defense Authorization Act are provisions that would ban the transfer of some war equipment to local police.

It is difficult to see much good in this year’s defense policy bill, which authorizes a whopping $741 billion for the Pentagon. But there are silver linings.

This month brought a massive win for DACA recipients. A federal judge ruled that Chad Wolf had been unlawfully appointed to his role as acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security when he issued a July 2020 memo ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections.

The New START treaty - the last remaining nuclear arms limitation agreement between Russia and the United States - is set to expire on Feb. 5, 2021. That is sixteen days after the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.