National Guard troops begin carrying weapons in Washington

WASHINGTON (AFP) : The National Guard began carrying weapons Sunday in the US capital Washington, where President Donald Trump has deployed more than 2,200 troops as part of a crackdown on crime, the military said.

“Starting the late evening of August 24, 2025, JTF-DC service members began carrying their service-issued weapon,” the Joint Task Force-DC — to which the National Guard troops are assigned — said in a statement.

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They are only authorized to use force “as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm,” the statement said.

A US defense official had said on Friday that troops deployed in Washington would “soon” be carrying weapons, which were previously available if needed but kept in the armory.

The National Guard troops come from overwhelmingly Democratic Washington as well as the Republican-led states of West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

Republican politicians — led by Trump — have claimed that the US capital is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged.

Data from Washington police, however, showed significant drops in violent crime between 2023 and 2024, though that was coming off a post-pandemic surge.

But Trump has accused Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser of “giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures,” threatening “bad things” including a total federal takeover of the city if she does not stop doing so.

In addition to the deployment of the National Guard, federal law enforcement personnel — including Immigration and Customs Enforcement — have also recently surged their presence on Washington’s streets, drawing protests from residents.