September 25, 2025
The Hint reached out to the six governors who deployed guard models to Washington, D.C., and requested in the event that they had been planning to ship troops to violent crime hotspots in their very own states. One responded.
Republican governors despatched Nationwide Guard to D.C. regardless of violence at residence
When Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves introduced he was sending his state’s Nationwide Guard troops to Washington, D.C., at President Donald Trump’s request, he framed the transfer as a matter of public security. “Crime is uncontrolled there, and it’s clear one thing have to be accomplished to fight it,” Reeves declared.
However a number of elements of Reeves’ state are worse off than Washington. No less than 17 Mississippi counties endured extra gun homicides per capita than the nation’s capital in 2024. That features Hinds County, residence to the state capital of Jackson, the place the speed was practically twice that of Washington’s final 12 months.
Reeves isn’t alone. 5 different Republican governors — in Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia — additionally dispatched guard models to Washington in August, echoing Trump’s rhetoric a few metropolis in disaster.
However a Hint evaluation of Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention knowledge reveals that the majority of these states endure from a number of the nation’s highest gun murder charges, with some areas worse than the capital Republicans painting as particularly harmful.
“Why is there no more outrage in these states about their increased violence charges?” requested Shani Buggs, a violence prevention researcher on the College of California, Davis. “Spending state sources to outsource folks to different cities doesn’t make sense. If that is speculated to be a technique for lowering violence, why aren’t they using it inside their very own states?”
The Hint reached out to the six governors who’ve deployed guard models to Washington and requested in the event that they had been planning to ship troops to violent crime hotspots in their very own states. One responded.
“Ohio has historically helped the District of Columbia, Ohio mayors, and different states after they request help from the Ohio Nationwide Guard or the Ohio State Freeway Patrol,” stated Daniel Tierney, a spokesperson for Gov. Mike DeWine. Tierney famous that the state had deployed the Guard to Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, on the behest of Democratic mayors to assist quell protests over the 2020 police homicide of George Floyd.
The information
The nation’s capital has lengthy been a political scapegoat for Republicans, who level to its murder price as proof of Democratic mismanagement. Final 12 months, Washington’s gun murder price stood at 18.7 per 100,000. If it had been a state, it will have the nation’s highest price. However Mississippi’s murder price was practically as excessive — 16.9 per 100,000 — and Tennessee, South Carolina, and Louisiana every ranked within the high 10 states for gun homicides. Ohio and West Virginia fall nearer to the nationwide common.
Washington is nearly totally city, missing the suburban and rural areas that assist pull down most statewide averages. The district’s land space — about 68 sq. miles — is smaller than most counties however extra comparable in scale, making counties a extra becoming benchmark than complete states. County-level knowledge additionally offers consistency, as it’s a normal unit in federal public well being reporting, not like city-level knowledge, which might be uneven.
The Hint evaluation of counties discovered areas inside a number of Republican-controlled states that face increased ranges of gun violence than Washington. 4 of the six states which have deployed guard models to Washington have no less than one county that’s deadlier. Mississippi has essentially the most counties with gun murder charges exceeding Washington’s, at 17.
“From a rational perspective, there’s little or no to help these states outsourcing folks to communities that aren’t asking for this,” Buggs stated. “In the meantime, there have been cuts to violence prevention methods, well being care, Medicaid, reasonably priced housing, social providers, and youth job applications. These are the issues communities are asking for — not one of these intervention.”
Annual gun murder charges fell by double-digits final 12 months within the three cities Trump has targeted most of his consideration on: Washington, Chicago, and Baltimore. In the meantime, no less than 31 of 82 Mississippi counties noticed their charges enhance. In Louisiana, 19 parishes endured will increase, as did 36 Tennessee counties.
In New York, the place Trump has additionally threatened to ship the Guard, 66 Mississippi counties, 50 Louisiana parishes, 38 South Carolina counties, and 20 Tennessee counties had extra gun homicides per capita final 12 months than the Bronx, the New York Metropolis borough with the best price. Ohio had eight deadlier counties, whereas West Virginia had one.
A double normal?
The governors despatched troops to Washington, however at residence, they’ve taken a extra delicate strategy, coordinating with federal and native regulation enforcement companions — one thing the Trump administration reportedly has not accomplished with leaders in any of the states to which he has talked about deploying troops.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, the one one of many six governors to have served within the Nationwide Guard or the army, has utilized the Guard for safety inside his state. He deployed the Guard to help police within the aftermath of the New Yr’s truck assault and taking pictures on Bourbon Avenue in New Orleans, and once more a couple of weeks later for the Tremendous Bowl.
4 Louisiana parishes — as counties are referred to as there — have gun murder charges increased than Washington’s, together with Orleans Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish, residence to the state’s largest metropolis and state capital, respectively, The Hint discovered. Caddo Parish, the place Shreveport is situated, additionally had a better price, as did Rapides, a solidly Republican county that features Alexandria.
In Baton Rouge, Sateria Tate-Alexander, who runs the nonprofit anti-violence group AGILE, stated Landry’s deployment to Washington is a waste of sources that could possibly be used to assist cut back violence in her group. AGILE’s violence intervention applications are liable to shutting down after town’s new mayor, a Republican, canceled a federally funded grant. “It truly is devastating as a result of we see it on a regular basis, the wasted sources or the displacement of sources,” she stated. “It makes me offended.”
She stated the Louisiana cities affected by excessive charges of violence want extra state help for group applications. “Violence is a fancy problem, so we’ve to have an equally advanced answer, truly, to be efficient,” she stated. “What we’re seeing is the other.”
In Memphis, the place violence is worse than in Washington, group teams say they’ve additionally been left within the lurch — at the same time as Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee sends guard troops to the nation’s capital. “It makes me really feel like they’re ignoring the violence — that they’re not involved about what’s occurring right here within the metropolis of Memphis,” stated Brian Tillman, a violence interrupter with the 901 B.L.O.C. Squad. This violence prevention crew was not too long ago furloughed after its finances was slashed.
“In case you have sources to allocate to D.C., why wouldn’t you’ve gotten sources to allocate to town of Memphis?” he stated. “In the event you’re not addressing the foundation causes, then you definitely’re not a part of the answer, which makes you a part of the issue.”
This story was produced by The Hint and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
RELATED CONTENT: New York Celebrates Worldwide Underground Railroad Month, Honors Harriet Tubman’s Iconic Legacy
