National Guard begins to carry DC firearms while Trump says Chicago may be the next

The weapons of some troops in the US capital is the latest climbing, while the president promises to attack other cities led by black democrats

Some units of the National Guard that patrol the US capital under Donald Trump’s orders began to carry firearms, a climb of the president’s military mobilization that meets a directive issued at the end of last week by his defense department.

An employee of the Defense Department, unauthorized to speak publicly, said that some units in certain missions in Washington, DC, would be armed – some with revolvers and some with rifles. The spokesman stated that all units with firearms had been trained and operated under rigid rules for the use of force.

An Associated Press photographer saw members of the South Carolina National Guard on Sunday outside the Union Station with firearms on the holloves.

A statement from the joint task force that assumed policing in Washington, DC, said the units began to behave their weapons on Sunday and that military rules determine that force should be used “only as a last resort and exclusively in response to an imminent threat of death or severe bodily injury.” He stated that the force is committed to protecting “the safety and well-being” of Washington residents.

The defense officer who spoke to the Associated Press said that only troops in certain missions would carry guns, including those on patrol to establish a police presence throughout the capital. Those who work in transport or administration would probably remain unarmed.

Thousands of national and federal police officers are patrolling the streets of the district, causing sporadic protests from local residents.

The development of Trump’s extraordinary effort to nullify the police authority of state and local governments occurs at a time when he considers expanding mobilizations to other cities led by Democrats, including Baltimore, Chicago and New York.

Earlier on Sunday, the president responded to an offer from Maryland’s governor to accompany him on a visit to Baltimore, saying he could instead “send the” troops “.

Democratic governor Wes Moore criticized Trump’s unprecedented statement of federal power to combat crime and the lack of housing in Washington. Last week, Moore invited Trump to visit his state to discuss public safety and walk the streets.

In a publication at Truth Social on Sunday, Trump said Moore asked the question “in a very unpleasant and provocative tone” and then raised the possibility of repeating the travel of the National Guard he made in Los Angeles, despite the objections of California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.

“Wes Moore’s history in crimes is terrible unless he manipulates his crime numbers, like many other ‘blue states’ they are doing,” Trump wrote, citing a pejorative nickname that often uses the governor of California. “But if Wes Moore needs help, as Gavin Newscum needed in Los Angeles, I’ll send the ‘troops’, which is being done in neighboring Washington, DC, and quickly eliminates crime.”

Moore said he invited Trump to Maryland “because he seems to enjoy living in this happy ignorance” about the improvement of crime rates in Baltimore. After a peak during the pandemic that accompanied national trends, the rate of violent crimes in Baltimore fell.

The 200 homicides registered last year represented a 24% drop from the previous year and 42% since 2021, according to the city’s data. Between 2023 and 2024, violent crime generally fell by almost 8% and crimes against equity, 20%.

“The president spends all the time talking about me,” said Moore on CBS’s face The Nation show on Sunday. “I spend my time talking about the people I serve.”

Trump is “spreading a lot of public security lies in Maryland,” Moore said in a back collection email.

In Washington, violent crime has reached lower levels in over 30 years. Even so, Trump reinforced the national guard and federal police officers, and a series of protests spread around the city over the weekend, while some normally moved corners were visibly silent. In some of the most populous areas, residents have undergone small groups of national guards, often talking to each other. Videos of arrests and arrests circulated on social networks.

Trump stated that Chicago and New York are probably their next targets, which caused strong resistance from democratic leaders in both states. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Pentagon spent weeks preparing for an operation in Chicago that would include National Guard troops and possibly active forces.

Asked about the post’s report, the White House highlighted Trump’s previous comments discussing its desire to expand the use of military forces to combat local crime.

“I think Chicago will be our next,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday, adding, “and then we’ll help New York.”

Trump repeatedly described some of the largest cities in the country – governed by Democrats, with black mayors and mostly minority populations – as dangerous and filthy. Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott is black, as is Moore. Columbia and New York district also have black mayors.

Reverend Al Sharpton, speaking during a religious event on Sunday at Howard University in Washington, said the presence of guard in the country’s capital had nothing to do with a crime: “it is about drawing a profile.”

“This is impregnated with intolerance and racism,” explained the civil rights activist later to reporters. “No white mayor has been appointed. And I think this is a matter of civil rights, a racial issue and a state of the state district of Columbia.”

Illinois governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said there was no emergency to justify the sending of National Guard troops to Chicago.

“Donald Trump is trying to make a crisis, politicize the Americans who serve uniformed and continue to abuse their power to divert attention from the pain they are causing to families,” Pritzker wrote in X.

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said the city did not need “a military occupation” and would file a lawsuit to block it. He stated that there was no communication of the White House about a possible military sending.

“We will not give our humanity to this tyrant,” Johnson said on Sunday at MSNBC.

Originally published by The Guardian on 08/25/2025