See the difference I highlighted there? Differences in assumption, that you can make a mistake vs you can't.
That said, most (all?) firearms allow a function check. I'm welcome to correction, but if a firearm passes a function check it's equally vetted as firing a live round.
Because of that, I don't think this argument amounts to a hair in a bear's ass. Clean it and function check it or leave it "slightly used", either way. I'm not in the Army any more, I don't have to clean everything every time it's fired. Anything magazine fed, I clean every 500 rounds or at the end of the day, whichever comes last. If I clean it, I function check it. No real reason for 500 other than it feels about right to me.