30 years ago I was hired as a historian/research assistance by the US Army Center of Military History. The 3d volume of the Center’s History of Federal Forces and Domestic Disorders 1945-1992, was being edited for publication. My job was to verify all of the footnotes in the book with the cited sources, many of them official records from NARA.
The deployment of active Army forces to Little Rock, AR, and “Ole Miss” at Oxford, MS are covered in detail as well as the post Martin Luther King assassination riots.
The Michigan Army National Guard did shoot at several buildings and people with the .50 cal mgs on their APCs and some citizens were killed. After that Gov Romney requested federal forces and a brigade of the 82d Airborne Division was deployed. The commanding general issued orders that his airborne soldiers and all national guard troops would not have ammunition loaded in their rifles, HOWEVER, each soldier would have a M-1 clip with 8 live rounds displayed on the right or left strap of their LBE. It was NOT advertised that the soldier’s weapons were unloaded. What the citizens saw was troops with extra rifle ammunition in clear display. I do not believe that any civilians were shot by the members of the 82d Airborne troops, many of whom had just returned from Vietnam, thus putting the fear of having combat experienced troops on patrol was a key psychological factor.
The book is available for free download/reading at: https://www.history.army.mil/catalog/pubs/30/30-20.html
Download from: https://www.history.army.mil/html/books/030/30-20/index.html
The 82nd and Marines were also in DC in 1971.
Thank you.