Why don't all members of the Air Force have to be fully qualified to be a rifleman in case of hostile events?

As enlisted army infantry, I qualified in M16 and 45 Cal every 6 months for my 2 year enlistment. As a Naval officer, I wasn't required to qualify once in 18 years.

My first military time, 3 years, was spent in the US Army as a military policeman. As memory serves I had an MOS of 951, MP, also a secondary MOS of 111, infantry. When I switched branches to the Air Force I was in the Security Police. We were the "infantry" of the Air Force, solely as air base ground defense. We had responsibility for everything inside the wire, the Army had everything else. In my day in the Army we had WACS. The only time I was every in contact with any WACS was at Fort Lewis, WA. Besides the 4th Inf Div, the post played host to six WACS, all of whom handled the paperwork at the rifle ranges. As to why most AF personnel are not fire arms proficient, is the training they receive in basic. I would load my boys into buses for the trip to the range, for a half day of shooting, the same for female airman. It was there they had contact with the M-16. I can still recall me amazement when I was told they fired .22 cal ammo. Whether they qualified or not made no difference as to their graduating. Even while performing as a training instructor(read DS) I still had to quality with my primary weapon, a .38 caliber revolver, then transition to the Beretta M-9, 9 millimeter pistol. As a AF reservist Security Policeman assigned to an active duty SP squadron, I had to qualify twice a year with both M-9 and the M-16. In the event that I failed to qualify I would not be allowed to carry the weapon in question while on duty. I remember in the Army I had to qualify with the M-1 rifle, the carbine, the .30 caliber machine gun, bipod mount.

Different mission requires different tactics. In the Army, the enlisted Soldiers are the primary combat element, where the officers’ (both commissioned and non-commissioned) Primary duties are to prepare those Soldiers for battle.
In the Air Force, officer pilots are the primary combat element, where the Airmen prepare them and their equipment for battle.

I agree completely with SSGT CHRIST. If we retain the mentality "we were never intended to be a ground fighting unit". We are set ourselves up for multiple failure points. The AF is not the Force of yesterday..."in the rear with the gear" and even if they were to continue in the rear...an escape from the term "armed forces" is truly illogical. In case you have been sleeping... the horizon has changed and it's not stuck in concrete. In harm's way is our job...train for it or just prepare to die ...pure and simple.

Our senior leadership understand this and we are evolving... "train like we fight" no matter the AFSC. Get of the keyboard and get some weapons training... Its more paramount now than ever before. Plainly speaking, yesterday's AF had members affiliated with weaponry and tactics. Today, there is an extreme lack of this knowledge due to the redicoulous media labeling of "evil guns". I saw train them all.. stop being the old mentality.

Times must have changed. When I joined the AF in ‘82 all airmen were M-16 trained are BMT. From there I was further trained at 3 additional AF bases for M-16 and .38’s. There were a few times when the Army provided some guard duty to support our missions, but each of us were expected to maintain proficiency with firearms and provide for our own security & defense.

In 1073, was assigned to a Titan Missile wing where we convoyed reentry vehicles with security police and armed with M-16's for which we had to be qualified. Before an assignment in Thailand in the Vietnam War had to be qualified on also the 38 pistol in case of attack! In Thailand mostly relied om the Security police for protection!

I am well versed with weapons - handguns and long guns - but where would I have gotten my hands on one if attacked? We had no weapons lockers in Primary Care Clinic where I treated patients. Nor did we have them available when I was a young airman working on the flight line.
When at Grand Forks when we had the B-52's, tankers, and 150 Minuteman III's, we had the ABGD guys to protect the base. (I know the terminology is different now).

During my active duty 1958 - 1963 I was required to qualify with an M1 Carbine. During basic it was an 8 shot bolt action adjustable peep site rifle. On Okinawa in 1961 I also was made familiar with .30 fully automatic carbine and a .30 caliber tripod mounted machine gun, and the old 45 caliber "grease gun". We were at a more or less remote outpost called Ona Point on an East China sea beach and there were regular monthly drills with arms and ammo.
Later in Japan I was still made to qualify with a rifle. It was actually a Mossberg model 1944 bolt action .22 long. I was able to earn a ribbon with that without much trouble because it was identical to the Mossberg .22 long, 8 shot, bolt action, peep site rifle given to me on my 12th birthday.
All this while I was translating intercepted mainland Chinese manual Morse (20351-2). Ohh, I also had to learn to fully care for a Colt .45 semi automatic pistol I carried while on "burn detail" trucking bags full of paper "classified" waste to the incinerator.
Saw all the weapons I never wanted to see again

For the same reason the USCG or Navy don't teach it, being a rifleman is not something they do on a regular basis. Security forces, Shore patrol, boarding parties etc, sure, they regularly qualify, the CG even has snipers. (And darn good ones, their teams have been top ten in the last few Int. sniper competitions at Fort Benning). but the regular every day guy, not so much. I was an ET1 and qualified on the .45 because I sometimes had to guard prisoners, and occasionally had to transport classified materials. Oh I did also qualify on the ma deuce and MK-19 as I was secondary crew on both when they were mounted on the bridge.

I was USAF 1979-1983, 51150 (computer operator)
I was also a qualified Marksman with an M-16. I also have two step sons in the military. One is Army Infantry the other is USAF Pararescueman Jumper. I really don’t think you could say our Infantryman is more qualified in combat arms than our PJ. Actually, any enemy on a field of battle would rue the day they met either one of these terrific young men.