‘I Couldn’t Play’: Child Thanks Trump for Sending National Guard to Fight Crime

Conservative News DailyOctober 18, 2025

A young boy named Braylon from Memphis, Tennessee, expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump for deploying the National Guard to help combat crime in the city. Prior to the National Guard’s arrival, Braylon feared playing outside due to gun violence, but now feels safer and describes the city as more peaceful. The National Guard troops arrived in Memphis on October 10 to address the city’s high violent crime rates, leading to nearly 1,000 arrests and the seizure of almost 200 illegal firearms.In 2024, Memphis had the highest violent crime rate among major U.S. cities. Even though Democratic Mayor Paul Young expressed displeasure about the National Guard deployment, the move follows similar deployments in Washington, D.C., and Chicago to reduce violent crime. The overall response to the deployments has been mixed, wiht some officials opposing them but many residents supporting efforts to improve safety.

A young boy thanked President Donald Trump on Thursday for deploying the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee, to fight crime.

The child, who is named Braylon, said in a TikTok post uploaded by his mother that he could not play outside before the arrival of the National Guard because he feared that he would get shot. He said that the National Guard’s presence has made the city “peaceful” and safer for all of the residents.

“My name is Braylon and I live here in Memphis. I’ve been noticing not just a slight change, more of a detrimental change of how peaceful Memphis is ever since the National Guard came,” the child said. “There were a lot of things that I couldn’t do before the National Guard came because I had to worry about guns and stuff. I couldn’t play because I was worried that somebody might pull out a gun or something. But now I can do that. And I just wanted to thank the President of the United States for bringing the National Guard here.”

WATCH: Young man in Memphis thanks POTUS for making Memphis safe pic.twitter.com/mC3nLLUZn1

— Kaelan Dorr (@Kaelan47) October 16, 2025

Troops arrived in Memphis on Oct. 10 to quell the high crime rates and increase arrests of violent criminals throughout the city. As of Thursday, the Memphis Safe Task Force has made 978 total arrests and seized 197 illegal firearms.

In 2024, Memphis had the highest violent crime rate out of every major U.S. city, with 2,501 incidents per 100,000 residents, according to Stateline, citing FBI data. Despite this, Democratic Memphis Mayor Paul Young said on CNN that he was “certainly not happy” about the National Guard deployment.

The administration first deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., in August, which has led to over 4,000 arrests and the seizure of over 400 firearms as of Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed. While the liberal media claimed crime was down by 34 percent in Washington, local police data excluded aggravated and felony assault, whereas the FBI indicated that crime had only fallen by 10 percent.

A majority of voters in Washington believed Trump’s crime crackdown was “justified and necessary.”

The National Guard has also been deployed to Chicago, which has experienced a significant surge in homicides in the past decade. Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have repeatedly lamented the presence of the National Guard and begged Trump not to deploy any troops.

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