A U.S. defense official said Friday that National Guard members in Washington, D.C., will soon start carrying firearms as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign against crime.
Referencing the Joint Task Force-DC, the official stated on condition of anonymity that JTF-DC members who are supporting the goal to reduce the crime rate in our nation’s capital would soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons under the secretary of defense’s command.
As troops started to arrive, the U.S. Army had previously said that weapons were ready if needed but would stay in the armory.
At the moment, Washington is home to about 1,900 members of the National Guard, who are drawn from both the city and Republican-led states such as West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
Chicago and New York are also being examined for similar deployments, President Trump stated on Friday.At the White House, he assured reporters, “We’re going to make our cities very, very safe.” After Chicago, I believe we will assist with New York.
In order to keep troops in Washington past the 30-day limit, the president has also talked about the prospect of announcing a national emergency.
Trump and other Republican leaders have claimed that homelessness, violence, and poor financial management are the main problems in Washington, D.C. Police statistics from the District, however, show otherwise.
After a post-pandemic spike, violent crime in Washington decreased significantly between 2023 and 2024, according to the police department. According to a January Justice Department statement, violent crime in the District of Columbia is at its lowest level in more than 30 years in 2024, down 35% from 2023.
In spite of this, Trump has accused Mayor Muriel Bowser of providing wildly erroneous crime statistics and threatened dire consequences, including the potential for a federal takeover of the city, should she persist.
In addition to the National Guard, local citizens have protested the growing presence of federal law enforcement agencies in Washington, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump deployed National Guard and Marine battalions into Los Angeles to quell riots related to immigration enforcement raids, which prompted the move. In doing so, the president defied the views of the state governor, who normally commands those forces, for the first time since 1965.
