City Council Member Wants to Deploy National Guard

A D.C. Council member said Tuesday that the mayor of the nation’s capital needs to join him in calling out the D.C. National Guard to regain control of streets overrun by violent crime.

Ward 8 representative and Democrat Trayon White made his case for a military deployment during an impassioned press conference Tuesday — just feet away from where three people were gunned down over the weekend near the corner of 16 Street and Good Hope Road in Southeast.

Mr. White said crime in his ward east of the Anacostia River has become a “cancer” that’s spreading to other parts of the city.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Mr. White said. “We have young men wandering through the community with AK-47s, letting off 60, 90, up to 100 rounds — daily.”

The council member said he reached out to Mayor Muriel Bowser to discuss his proposed call-up of the National Guard, a deployment that would require coordination with the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the White House, since the president has authority over the local guard units. (Excerpt from The Washington Times.)