# National Guard as a long-term armed adjunct to law enforcement **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 17, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159 "2025-08-17T15:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BlueOhio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BlueOhio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueOhio)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/21 "2025-08-18T12:42:24Z")
Many large cities in Ohio have a higher crime rate than D.C. If the NG is activated then they should stay home if people are so worried about crime. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/22 "2025-08-18T12:45:48Z")
1. Replace it with official Trumpware at a high premium. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/23 "2025-08-18T12:57:04Z")
It is weird to take NG units away from Cleveland, Dayton, and Toledo (6, 10, and 22 on the violent crime list according to Wiki) to send them to DC (29 on the list). I guess there’s not enough national press in those cities or something. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Steal some White House silverware. This made me lol! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/24 "2025-08-18T14:18:18Z")
Aren’t they just hassling people with low impulse control, who commit infractions despite LEOs being right there? If I was a criminal in DC, and I wanted to plan a crime, I’d just factor in those extra LEOs. There’s really not that many of them that they can’t be avoided. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/25 "2025-08-18T14:47:59Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If I was a criminal in DC, and I wanted to plan a crime, I’d just factor in those extra LEOs. If I was a criminal in DC, and I wanted to plan a crime, I’d just plan to do it in those cities where those extra LEOs come from. Somewhere other than DC, there’s several hundred fewer cops on patrol, and that sounds like an opportunity to me. Like Trump’s plan to move the homeless out of DC, with no plan for where they should go, it’s just moving DC’s problems to other places. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/26 "2025-08-18T14:54:19Z")
The shell game, the first con Trump learned, while his classmates studied basic English grammar. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/27 "2025-08-18T15:37:15Z")
> [@BlueOhio](#): > > Many large cities in Ohio have a higher crime rate than D.C. If the NG is activated then they should stay home if people are so worried about crime. Granted that many, but not ALL and not even MOST, National Guard are also trained law enforcement personnel, my overall point is that the primary function of the National Guard is NOT law enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/28 "2025-08-18T17:11:36Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If I was a criminal in DC, and I wanted to plan a crime, …I’d probably be on the fast track for a job in this administration. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/29 "2025-08-18T17:57:18Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Why a government civil employee in an administrative role would be cruising such [a high crime area](https://www.areavibes.com/washington-dc/dupont+circle/crime/) at such a peculiar hour has yet to be explained but I’m sure there is a perfectly normal and not-at-all suspect reason for it.) It’s been more than a few years since I lived in the area but when did DuPont Circle become a high crime area? Seems like an affluent and safe area. The Guard use in DC is purely performative. They are hanging out at The Mall and other tourist areas. Places that were already safe. Federal officers might be flooding the high crime areas I don’t know. The Guard is going where Trump can see them on camera. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/30 "2025-08-18T18:03:05Z")
In case anyone is wondering, the official word out of the National Guard Bureau is the units are providing “critical support, including crowd management, presence patrols and perimeter control.” In other words they are standing around for the cameras. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/31 "2025-08-18T18:05:01Z")
I’m so proud of my country sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/32 "2025-08-18T18:43:10Z")
I remember when one of the most shocking things for an American to see abroad were police or military walking in public with military rifles. Now we just need to go somewhere Trump wants to wave his surrogate dick around his enemies. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/33 "2025-08-18T19:38:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s no emergency in Washington (or any of the other cities Trump has talked about sending troops to). Ah, but they are Democrats for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/34 "2025-08-18T19:44:19Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I remember when one of the most shocking things for an American to see abroad were police or military walking in public with military rifles. Now we just need to go somewhere Trump wants to wave his surrogate dick around his enemies. To be clear, this started in the wake of September 11, 2001, when National Guard troops were called up to assist in security at airports and critical infrastructure, and the increased militarizations of civil law enforcement, arming officers with semi-automatic AR-15 platform weapons and purchasing military surplus hardware like MRAPs and APCs. What Trump is doing now is just a ‘logical’ extension of that trend albeit with completely specious justifications. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/35 "2025-08-18T19:45:52Z")
Yeah, working in NYC, it is not at all shocking to see people in camo carrying large rifles around since 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/36 "2025-08-18T20:02:22Z")
I flew in and out of Atlanta dozens of times in the 2010s. Cops shambling and loafing, but nothing unusual. Other airports I’d land in like Minneapolis had body armor, dogs and rifles like I’d stepped into a Graham Green novel. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/37 "2025-08-18T20:12:02Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > It is weird to take NG units away from Cleveland, Dayton, and Toledo (6, 10, and 22 on the violent crime list according to Wiki) to send them to DC (29 on the list). I guess there’s not enough national press in those cities or something. To be fair, moving cops out of Cleveland probably would reduce the violent crime rate in the city. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/38 "2025-08-18T20:13:19Z")
Haha! \ ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/39 "2025-08-19T17:13:27Z")
Tennessee, home of Memphis, the city that is number 1 for violent crime, just said they’re sending the Guard to DC. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-as-a-long-term-armed-adjunct-to-law-enforcement/1022159/40 "2025-08-19T18:12:29Z")
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