Debatable: National Guard in cities

Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and a former Army pilot, said Trump is taking the right approach:

“Washington, DC, is supposed to be the symbol of American strength, yet lately it has become a symbol of lawlessness. Just blocks from the Capitol, a woman in my own apartment complex was robbed of her computer, phone, and iPad. Not long before, Congressman Henry Cuellar was held at gunpoint across the street. These incidents didn’t happen in some far-off, crime-ridden city — they happened minutes from the halls of Congress. That is the reality of life in our nation’s capital: it is not safe.

“President Trump’s decision to step in and take control of DC law enforcement is not an ‘overreach.’ It is leadership. When Democrat governors like Tim Walz had no problem deploying the National Guard to shut down businesses, churches, and schools during Covid, they called it ‘public safety.’ But when it comes to addressing actual public safety, the kind threatened by violent crime, repeat offenders, and brazen lawlessness, they suddenly claim it goes too far. That hypocrisy exposes their priorities: control over citizens, but not protection for them.

“The vast majority of Americans understand that without order, there can be no freedom. Citizens deserve to walk their streets without fear of being assaulted or robbed. If local leaders refuse to uphold that most basic responsibility, then governors must be willing to act. Deploying the National Guard where necessary is not a violation of liberty; it is the defense of it.”

Patrick Eddington, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute who served in the National Guard and Reserves, argued that National Guard troops have no business policing DC’s streets because they know little about civilian criminal law:

“The peacetime mission of the National Guard in any state or territory is being available to help with actual emergencies that affect a state — usually of the natural disaster variety. The California NG has often played a role in helping contain the wildfires that have so plagued that state for years now. Those are totally appropriate missions for state NGs to perform.

“When I was a young enlisted soldier in the Missouri NG in 1983, my transportation unit was called up to provide anti-looting and commercial business security in the wake of a tornado that had swept through part of my hometown of Springfield. Our unit leadership was so concerned that there not be a shooting incident involving any member of our unit that we deployed without bolts in our M-16s (i.e. the rifles couldn’t fire). We could still have used the weapons as de facto clubs, I guess, but the main point of our deployment was providing physical security for an area of the city that had just been hit by a major tornado. We had no lawful arrest or detention authority; that was the job of the Springfield PD.

“Putting young NG personnel on DC’s streets — none of whom likely know the first thing about civilian criminal law — in a politically volatile environment is inviting a Kent State-like tragedy.

“What Trump is doing now has nothing to do with ‘crime control’ since the DC murder and crime rate is the lowest it’s been in literally decades. These out-of-state NG call ups — from red states in particular — are simply designed to intimidate elected Democrats in major metropolitan areas under the guise of ‘fighting crime’ and alleged immigration enforcement. Trump’s use of Title 32 authority to do this is a clear misuse of the statute, designed to get around the Posse Comitatus Act, so he can use military personnel under the control of Trump loyalist governors for these political repression ops.”