ha, the old 'youll be sorry, you just wait!' . yeah i heard this one a bit from several officers, but in my anecdotal experience most actually didnt care about their sidearm a that much. its a reality that most officers never use the gun in the line of duty, which adds to my point.
form the inside, its amazing that the exact type of officers you would expect, react to this thought experiment the worst. IE, the best cops dont care about carrying lethal weapons their entire shift. the shittiest cops i worked with freaked the fuck out if you even kind of mention taking away their 'power'. all anecdotal from one small burg, but damn if it wasnt fucking accurate.