Washington – Most of the more than 2,300 national guard troops deployed in Washington to support the police began to transport weapons this weekend. But as in other deployments of the National Guard, they have been told to the troops used by their M17 guns and the powerful M4 rifles only for self -defense or as a last resort, two defense department officials said to NBC News.
According to the rules of commitment, the mortal force is authorized only “about the reasonable belief of an imminent threat of death or serious bodily damage,” said one of the defense officials. And a bad actor must have the “ability and opportunity” to put a member of the guard in danger or inflict serious bodily damage. The approach to the members of the Guard, added the official, is to defend themselves or other people.
The members of the Armed Guard will carry the type of weapon in which M17 and M4 semi -automatic rifles are normally issued and trained, similar to the assault style rifles, said the officials of the Department of Defense. Some guard members will carry M9 guns.
Military weapons are similar to those used by local police departments in the United States. The M4 is a standard semi -automatic rifle and has approximately the same capacities as the semi -automatic rifles used by law application agencies.
The M17 pistol is essentially the same as the SIG SIG SAUER 320 gun, the type of semi -automatic gun that the police throughout the country have used for years. Police in Washington also use semi -automatic guns and rifles.
Similar to other missions
The troops mission in Washington is similar to that of the members of the guard who are activated to support the police in other states, officials said.
The main difference is that a governor would normally call the guard instead of the president’s federalization, as happened in the Columbia district. In Washington, the mayor generally submits a request to activate the guard through the Secretary of Defense.
After the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth signed an order that allowed the guard deployed to DC to take weapons last week, some began to take them to places in the city. This deployment comes from DC and six states: Louisiana, Ohio, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
While officials believe that at any time there could be 500 to 800 guard members in the streets, the number fluctuates daily depending on the needs and circumstances, said the officials of the Department of Defense. And only the guard members operating in certain areas and in certain missions in Washington will be armed, they added.
For example, guard members who are carrying out duties of “beautification” in national monuments will not generally be armed. But those in the so -called presence patrols could be, officials said. The decision on whether guard members are armed in some places in the city depends on the local commander.
Arming the members of the National Guard during federal missions is common. Guard troops deployed in a federal mission in Los Angeles this year were also assigned their weapons issued per unit, according to a third official of the Department of Defense. NBC News could not identify any example of the guard members who triggered their rifles or guns in Los Angeles.
Trump’s statements
President Donald Trump has said that his use of the Guard to support the Local Police is part of his effort to deliver the capital of the Nation for violent crimes. And an American official said that assembling the guard in some neighborhoods was a preventive step, essentially sending a signal to anyone who can point to the guard not to do so.
Until now, there have been few incidents in Washington that involve members of the guard. But on Saturday, the members of the Mississippi National Guard responded to a call to the protection of a DC resident who said an assailant was threatening the spectators.
The members of the Guard formed a protective barrier between the person and the alleged victims while notified to the Local Police. The United States Capitol Police arrested the person and obtained statements from the members of the guard involved, according to a spokesman for the deployment of guard in Washington.
Trump said Monday that due to his deployment of the guard, Washington had not had a murder in 11 days and said that he had spent years since the city had spent more than a week without a murder. In fact, the local police data show that Washington spent 16 days without a murder this year, from February 25 to March 12.
