Armed guard members will carry the type of weapon they are normally issued and trained on, typically M17 handguns and M4 semiautomatic rifles, similar to assault-style rifles, the Defense Department officials said. Some guard members will carry M9 pistols.
The military weapons are similar to those used by local police departments across the United States. The M4 is a standard semiautomatic rifle and has roughly the same capabilities as semiautomatic rifles used by law enforcement agencies.
Completely incorrect. NBC is clearly trying to downplay the seriousness of this. M4 rifles are not assault “style”. They are assault rifles, fullstop. The M4, and other assault rifles, are not legal for civilian use. They have full automatic or burst fire capability, depending on the specific model.
The weapons these soldiers are carrying are not AR-15s. These are not “assault weapons”. These are weapons of war. They are not for civilian hunters or shooting competitions. They are for killing human beings.
It has been a pretty common thing for the national guard to be deployed domestically with weapons but no ammo, or with ammo on their person but not loaded into their weapons, so it’s a valid question.
Had not heard of being issued empty guns. Seems like said military would push back drastically because it is dead weight that makes them worse than useless in a crisis.
What IS common is to have doctrine of unloaded guns. Sometimes that is stated as having an unloaded magazine in the gun but having full mags on their body so it is a quick swap when they want to kill someone. Usually it more just means that they are told to not chamber a round (i.e. squeezing the trigger won’t make it go bang but they are one quick hand motion from being ready).
Which… tends to line up with most “peace keeping” operations and behavior outside of active combat zones. It drastically reduces negligent discharges but they are like 2 seconds from being combat ready at any moment in time. It is just the gun nuts who insist that all guns need to be carried with one in the chamber at all times because they think they are going to have to quickdraw on that purple haired girl at the Starbucks at any moment.
It is meaningless and they still have more than enough bullets to make Kent State look like nap time at a preschool.
It is common, I was In the Army ( national guard). They would give us everything for a duty besides the ammo, and yes this included a time where I did security for a civilian protest. Had my m4, with empty magazines, full kit otherwise. This was about 8 years ago now.
They did the same thing for a different army unit I was in when they were deployed during Katrina.
Well, at least in LA, they had bullets https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/amid-la-protests-officials-rules-force-national-guard/story?id=122670457
So don’t worry. They are just one pull of the charging handle from being able to shoot you in the head
I still trust national guard more than cops
A thug is pointing a gun at me on behalf of trump? I don’t really give a fuck what color their shirt is or whether they have a punisher skull or a thin blue line flag.
They are the enemy until they actually fucking side with The People. And “Hey, they aren’t actually shooting at you… yet” is not siding with The People.
FYI if you’re not sure about something then don’t make a statement of fact. That’s how disinformation is propagated.
Military are commonly deployed without ammo, as others have stated.
Considering I specifically said I wasn’t aware of outright being unarmed (and most examples are from closer to 20 years ago than not) and that the doctrine in LA was exactly what I described?
So I am just going to assume you are part of the crowd coming here from the /c/conservative board losing their mind over people not properly glazing the military.
Here you go: