Yes, it used to make me nervous, out there patrolling the perimeter at night with an unloaded rifle.
One thing, though—they didn’t TELL people that the weapons were not loaded. No one could be sure.
What I thought at the time was a huge mistake was when Bill Clinton loudly and publicly TOLD everyone that they could count on all the weapons at military bases being purely for show. To a criminal, that makes it look as easy as shooting up a school.
Hopefully they arm the soldiers at bases where they store WMD components.