{"id":81868,"date":"2025-08-25T12:41:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T12:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/08\/25\/some-national-guard-troops-in-dc-now-carrying-service-issued-weapons\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:00:25","slug":"some-national-guard-troops-in-dc-now-carrying-service-issued-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/08\/25\/some-national-guard-troops-in-dc-now-carrying-service-issued-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Some National Guard troops in DC now carrying service-issued weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some National Guard members have started carrying their service-issued weapons around the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStarting the late evening of August 24, 2025, JTF- DC (Joint Task Force – DC) service members began carrying their service-issued weapon,\u201d the Guard said in a statement late Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTask force personnel operate under the established Rules for the Use of Force, which allow the use of force only as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm,\u201d the Guard added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo late last week authorizing National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C., to carry weapons if their mission requires it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The memo, according to one official, was addressed to the chief of the National Guard Bureau and the Secretary of the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly 2,300 Guard troops have been deployed in Washington and seen in low-crime tourist areas. Soldiers and airmen assigned to a beautification task force have conducted site surveys to begin community restoration projects over the next several days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that some are armed, it is unclear whether their tasks will expand to security patrols in neighborhoods that struggle with crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 900 members of the District of Columbia National Guard have been deployed, along with about 1,300 Guard members coming from Republican-led states<\/a>, including Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and Ohio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, Mississippi National Guard service members assigned to JTF-DC responded to civilian calls for help, the National Guard said in its Sunday statement. Troops formed a protective barrier between a suspect and victims while also notifying Capitol Police. Capitol Police took the suspect into custody, the Guard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t