User blog comment:Zathronas/Speculative Author - RWBY Relativity/@comment-25405817-20160225041708/@comment-26397825-20160225042750

That explains how civilians can use guns as well, since it was shown in the manga that bullets are dust-powered. In fact, a lot of things seem to be dust powered, so activation but not elemental activation (getitng it to glow but not give off the effects) during refinement would make sense for the average person, and would explain why there's dust stores which would presumably be open to the civilians as well.

When they need a refill for a machine or something, they go in and by the appropriate powdered and preactivated form. The the crystals, which were kept in a glass counter on display like jewellery in the first episode, would be for people with their aura unlocked.