A gun without ammo

Once, when I was stationed in North Carolina, one week a month I was made to go on guard duty. While on guard duty, we had to stay at the guard shack to act as a reactionary force in case there was any kind of trouble that required a ready force. Also, the station was divided into 15 posts, and each guard had to stand a post for a four hour period every 12 hours. While on guard, each Marine was given 5 rounds to keep in their rifle magazine. We were admonished at length about the amount of red tape and trouble we would expose ourselves to if we did indeed discharged our weapon.

One of those posts involved guarding the ammo dump. The ammo dump was a series of berms about 2 acres long containing enough explosives and bullets to supply a small war. On each end of the ammo dump there was a 20 foot high guard tower. We were to stand guard on this guard tower for 45 minutes out of each hour, and then climb down to walk the length of the compound and check for any suspicious activity. One other thing about the guard tower duty, there was a she-bear living in the adjacent woods and she had two bear cubs that she was still weaning. 

The rules were clear, these bears were protected by the government. We were, under no circumstances, to shoot these bears. Even if our lives were in grave danger, we would surely go to prison the rest of our natural lives if we so much as sighted in on the bears. So, what if the bear chases us? Climb up the tower was our only option. OK, but what if the bear climbs up the tower? Jump down and hope you don't break your leg so you can run away. Right, but what if we break our leg? Well, you could always shoot yourself, but if you even so much as aim at the bear, or discharge a round into the air, there will be hell to pay. 

So, you want me to do this job. You are giving me the tools to do my job. But I'm not allowed to use them? 

Right...I guess then I should pray I don't encounter a bear, or any other threat to national security.