I get a kick out of all these posts by people who have never been a cop, and have no clue what it is like to be confronted by someone who has a gun.Survival is the prime consideration. I was issued a .38 S&W when I went into law enforcement, but they didn't give me any bullets! At least Barney Fife had ONE bullet! No one was afraid of me, because I didn't carry it unless I was working at night, or dealing with a known bad guy. I had their respect, not their fear or contempt.

Modern pellet guns ARE deadly weapons. I have one that can put a pellet right through a phone book, and could easily kill a person. Such lethal weapons are not new; the Lewis&Clark expedition had a rifle that was charged with compressed air.

When someone is stupid enough to remove the orange strip at the muzzle of an exact replica of a 1915 Colt automatic pistol, it is a tragedy going somewhere to happen.
Then, there is also the fact that too many towns simply don't worry about the qualifications of their cops.If you are warm and breathing, and can recite the 4th amendment, you are in.(I'll bet, most can't)

I remember in the US Treasury school of law enforcement and criminal investigation, that part where we had to walk down a street and decide in a split second to shoot or not, it was VERY stressful for fear of shooting an old woman with a cane, or getting shot by a thug with a shotgun. You can imagine what the real scene is like.
Anyway, it's fun to speculate, I suppose.