A rhetorical statement of course! Hell, I've had friends in active duty assigned to foreign hotspots WITH NO AMMO! They were merely a "Show of Force"... IF it hit the fan, only Majors and above could authorize the issuance of live ammo!
After all, we couldn't have some Yahoo actually try to protect himself and cause an international media event..., right!
AMMO——sounds like my first assignment after boot camp in ‘42 during WW2——seal radios and keep guard on foreign ships in NY harbor till they left or docked——issued 1911 .45’s with NO ammo but 2 empty mags——we were told all ammo was going to Army as USA was ill prepared for a war after Japs attacked Pearl Harbor—sounded reasonable and we decided we could just ‘throw the pistols at the enemy’ if we needed to-—after 70+ years how things go around to get around——cheers