WASHINGTON – National Guard troops could start carrying weapons on the streets of Washington, DC, as soon as this weekend after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed soldiers deployed to President Donald Trump’s police and military crackdown on the capital city to arm themselves.
For two weeks on the streets of the nation’s capital, National Guard troops have not carried weapons, but that is expected to change on Saturday, Aug. 23, according to a senior official with knowledge of the deployment who was not authorized to speak on the record. Soldiers will be carrying their standard service weapons – pistols and M4 rifles, the official said.
“At the direction of the Secretary of Defense,” National Guard troops “supporting the mission to lower the crime rate in our Nation’s capital will soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons, consistent with their mission and training,” the Pentagon said in a statement shared with USA TODAY on Aug. 22.
Officials previously told USA TODAY that National Guardsmen could start carrying weapons, depending on their mission.
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The number of National Guard soldiers deployed to Washington has risen to nearly 2,000 soldiers as of Aug. 21, now that the Republican governors of six states have sent hundreds more troops to join Trump’s takeover of the city, according to the Joint Task Force in charge of the deployment.
Trump announced the deployment of the first 800 troops on Aug. 11, saying they were needed to suppress what he has called out-of-control crime in the city – despite a documented decline in the city’s crime rate in 2025.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: National Guard troops to start carrying weapons in DC this weekend
