According to a statement from the Joint Task Force-DC, “service members began carrying their service-issued weapon” on August 24, 2025.
The statement stated that only the troops are permitted to use force “as a last resort and only as a response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm.”
The National Guard would either carry M17 pistols or M4 rifles, according to unnamed officials who spoke to Reuters.
One week after sending troops there, Trump made the announcement on Sunday, when he made the claim that there was “NO CRIME AND NO MURDER IN DC.”
Trump claimed in a similar post on Truth Social that he might “send in the “troops” to the Baltimore-arean community, which he described as “out of control” and “crime-ridden.”
Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, invited Trump to visit Baltimore and walk its streets, and he responded, “I would much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a “walk.”
However, Baltimore Police Department reports a double-digit decrease in gun violence in July compared to the previous year. According to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, the city has experienced 84 homicides this year, the lowest number in more than 50 years.
Washington, DC, home to just over 700,000 people, is now home to tens of National Guard and federal law enforcement officers.
The National Guard is a reserve force that, according to the US Army, can be called on to respond to “counter-drug efforts,” foreign combat missions, and domestic emergencies.
Protests, fear and confusion from residents, as well as federal law enforcement officers, have been reported for their presence in the nation’s capital.
Despite the fact that official data indicates crime is down in the city, some Republican governors have sent hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, DC, which the president has described as being in the grip of a crime wave.
The president has the authority to take over policing in the capital for up to 30 days because it is not a state.
The district’s designation as a state has long been a top priority for many residents. After passing a bill through the then-Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in 2020, Democrats did not pursue it further.
Meanwhile, Trump’s push to send troops to Chicago was rejected on Sunday by JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois.
Source: Aljazeera
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