Here’s a scenario that should make every gun owner’s blood boil. A 22-year-old Oklahoma National Guard member, sent to Washington, D.C., to support President Trump’s crime-fighting effort, now finds himself facing charges. His alleged offense? Carrying a firearm.
What Happened
The Associated Press reports that Spec. Jakob Noonan was arrested Monday, September 29, after U.S. Park Police found a handgun during a traffic stop. Noonan was riding with a fellow Guard member in a Honda SUV when officers pulled the vehicle over for an expired tag.
According to a U.S. Park Police statement, the officer noticed an empty holster in the back of the vehicle and asked whether a firearm was present. Noonan confirmed there was. At the time, he was off duty, out of uniform, and driving his personal vehicle. He told the officer the firearm was registered in Oklahoma — an open-carry, permitless-carry state — and that he was temporarily living in the capital as part of the National Guard operation. A records check confirmed he had no valid District of Columbia concealed-carry permit.
Noonan was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and had his first court appearance in D.C. Superior Court the same day. Notably, his arrest marks the second time in two months that a member of the task force has been arrested — the deployment itself has been contentious since Trump launched it in August 2025 under an emergency crime declaration.
A Joint Task Force-District of Columbia spokesperson told Task & Purpose on Saturday that it knew about the service member’s arrest.
“JTF-DC service members are expected to maintain high standards of professionalism and conduct at all times. This matter will be addressed in accordance with established policies and procedures,” the spokesperson said, pointing further questions toward the Metropolitan Police Department.
The Legal Absurdity
Here’s where it gets ridiculous. In his home state of Oklahoma, Noonan can legally carry without any permit. While he’s on the clock in D.C., he can lawfully carry a handgun or a service rifle. But to lawfully keep a gun in his personal vehicle in the District — one that isn’t locked up, unloaded, and inaccessible — he’d need a D.C. carry permit under the licensing scheme the D.C. Circuit struck down in Wrenn v. District of Columbia back in 2017, before the District rewrote it with new procedural barriers that are just as effective at keeping non-residents out.
Under D.C. statute, he faces a possible five-year prison term.
The question answers itself: does a man suddenly become a danger the moment his workday ends? Of course not. National reciprocity would resolve this absurdity: a lawful carrier shouldn’t become a felon by crossing a jurisdictional line, especially one the federal government ordered him to cross.
Pirro’s Pickle
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has backed herself into a corner. She’s said she wouldn’t go after D.C. residents for openly carrying rifles or running afoul of the District’s “large capacity” magazine ban. But back in February she warned in a Fox News interview, “You bring a gun into this District, you mark my words, you’re going to jail. I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else.”
TTAG criticized those comments at the time, and Noonan’s case is exactly why. Pirro drew the hardest possible line against non-resident carry — no exceptions, no discretion, no case-by-case consideration — and now the test case is a Trump-deployed National Guardsman who was lawfully carrying under the laws of the state that sent him.
If she prosecutes Noonan, Second Amendment supporters will raise a stink, and rightly so. If she doesn’t, the left will cry double standard. Either way, this case is exactly why gun owners took issue with her tough talk in the first place. A U.S. Attorney who publicly commits to prosecuting every outsider who carries into D.C., regardless of circumstance, has handed herself a political problem the moment one of those “outsiders” turns out to be sympathetic.
Here’s hoping Noonan’s attorneys mount a Second Amendment challenge to D.C.’s non-resident carry licensing scheme. The Supreme Court’s post-Bruen framework specifically protects public carry for self-defense, and the District’s effective denial of that right to residents of 49 other states — including an active-duty servicemember ordered to the capital on federal business — is exactly the kind of as-applied challenge the Bruen framework was built to resolve.
Pirro is a hanging judge no matter the optics! Anyway know where the heck you are! I wish this guy well.
I wish him well also but, if I can’t carry there neither can he! Don’t get me wrong. I want him to be able to carry but the law applies equally for all. And as far as Pirro being a hanging judge…fukin please!
I suppose since the Guardsman was up there for Trump he must have not been one of those loser soldiers that Prez Trump criticizes.
Well the Guardsman lost his gun gee whizz he must be another one of those loser soldiers Prez Trump dislikes.
At least the Guardsman wasn’t shot down in an areo plane and captured by the enemy. That would make him a super loser soldier, according to Prez Trump.
Do not die or get injured for your country, only loser soldiers do that. Prez Trump only likes winners, winning biggly.
New York plague.
Until the laws are changed, we need to follow them. You don’t have to agree with the law, and if you don’t, you can fight it. I do by being a GOA member.
We know criminals don’t follow the law, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have.
He’ll get a Trump pardon. Quite honestly, if active and retired LEOS can carry, so should active and retired service members.
Gee, why retired and not honorable discharged. Why not everybody, like the 2nd Amendment says?
Isn’t it amazing how many 2A’ers are willing (and often eager) to comply and rationalize infringement?
“I got mine” and “Nobody needs” intensifies.
Not so long there was a terroristic ambush on Guards, one woman lost her life and one man was fortunate to have survived. That said I suspect the preposterous charges will be dropped.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/afghan-national-accused-ambush-killing-national-guard-member-near-white-house-indicted
When did Oklahoma start registering firearms? That’s news to me and my wife.
“valid District of Columbia concealed-carry permit…” – Does such a thing exist for non-residents? Plus likely his tags are expired because he’s on deployment, maybe a little grace there too should be in order.
I think we just found our reciprocity test case.
Below I’m going to list what I think are the two best arguments for this guy. Next step is to get the two Oklahoma State Senators involved, get them to push these ideas to the JAG office that’ll be defending this guy. They can also yell for help from the US-DOJ Civil Rights Division.
Arguments:
Under DC law, scoring a DC carry permit means registering your carried handguns with the DC city government. But according to a 1986 federal law (Firearms Owners Protection Act) the federal government and it’s subdivisions (like DC!) can’t run a gun registry. See also 18 USC §926. So the entire DC gun carry permit law is red letter illegal.
That’s just the first problem.
According to the US Supreme Court in the 2022 decision in NYSRPA v Bruen at footnote 9, states (and whatever DC is) are allowed to run carry permit systems tied to background checks and training. It’s not dicta, because this part of footnote 9 preserves permit systems like what DC has from a “text, history and tradition” challenge that the DC permit system would otherwise have to cope with (and fail, because permit like that were only invented in 1986 in Florida).
But footnote 9 has a second half that specifically bans “lengthy waiting times” and “exorbitant fees”. In order for our hapless guardsman to legally carry across the US he has to chase 20+ permits from Guam to Mass, DC included. The costs for such insanity could clear $20k with all the travel and cheap motels plus run the same NICS background check 20+ times and more training than the average cop (except it’s endless, mindless repetition).
As a member of the National Guard this guy has already passed a deep background check plus serious weapons training.
The states fixed this same problem with interstate recognition of driver’s licenses generations ago. But not for guns! Driving is a privilege, handgun carry is a basic civil right recognized in the parts of the Bruen decision that are core holding, not even possibly dicta.
Even if the list of abuses at footnote 9 was found to be dicta, the fact that gun carry is definitely a basic civil right kicks in an avalanche of case law on how Rights are protected. As one example see the 1983 US Supreme Court decision in Minneapolis Star:
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/460/575/
Hey Pirro, just two words for you. Sieg Heil.
Retired National Guard Military Police Officer.
There was a PowerPoint presentation. He was told in clear terms what was allowed in DC. Yes, we all agree that DC has terrible laws. However, he was caught breaking the law. He was also caught being stupid. It happens with young men. His leadership should have been able to avert this situation with a quick phone call. “We are taking his handgun and shipping it home.”
Should is a tricky thing with various jurisdictions. We were able to get a drunk and disorderly dismissed with a 4 hour smoking session that we recorded and gave to the arresting officer for proof/entertainment purposes. Weapons charges……..well gets tricky but with a good CO and a less than jack boot department has been done. LEOSA (unless updated since I last knew) would probably not apply to the guy as 10 years as MP or disabled vet status would be the starting point so your assessment here is very likely.
There is a networking back door way to address this. There is a NG leadership team working with DC PD. They have each others cell phone numbers. They should be able to handle this,
I have a feeling they are waiting for the smoke to clear and will work this out quietly. He will get a misdemeanor charge and will take probation. No issues for this rest of his tour and it will be expunged. The NG team will assure the PD all incoming service members are being informed about the laws and yadda yadda….