They did.

That doesn't mean they protected you.

Imagine you were the first country to invent a handgun. You also have the idea of making body armor, but you haven't yet because there are no handguns shooting at you.

Then someone steals your handgun. You quickly make body armor. It isn't perfect but it works really well.

Then someone 3 streets over gets shot. Because they weren't aiming at you. You have handguns. And body armor.

They'd rather go after someone exploitable.