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National Guard in D.C. to Carry Weapons Amid Crime Crackdown

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  August 18, 2025 10:30 AM

More National Guardsmen are set to arrive in the United States capital to finally bring crime under control. But in a sharp departure from the original policy, these troops will now be armed while patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C.

In a press release last week, defense officials announced that “weapons are available if needed" to the national guard troops acting as merely a presence in the nation's capital, "but will remain in the armory.” However, just last Friday, troops were told to expect to carry weapons, according to the Wall Street Journal. So far, no formal order has been issued.

More troops are set to arrive this week from multiple Republican states, with 300 and 400 troops from West Virginia, 200 from South Carolina, and 150 from Ohio. 

A White House official noted that while the troops may now be armed, they still lack arrest authority, with their function limited to serving as a visible presence on the streets, patrolling the National Mall, Union Station, and the city’s metro stops.

Federal law enforcement agents, by contrast, do possess that authority and have exercised it aggressively, with more than 160 arrests to date ranging from drug offenses to homicide. Homeless encampments, too, have begun to clear out under the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime as the homeless are offered two choices: treatment or a prison cell.

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