1. I own and shoot firearms.
2. They are stored, unloaded and with a trigger lock, in a locked steel cabinet.
3. Whatever ammunition I have is similarly stored elsewhere.
4. There are no children in my house and they rarely, if ever, visit.
5. I do not brag about having them and consider them tools for an Olympic-sanctioned sport that I enjoy -- target shooting.
6. I would fully support a system of gun control that was well considered and well thought out instead of a mish-mash cobbled together in reaction to events.
7. I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of the National Rifle Association, although I do support their work in firearms safety.

Please read this. It is well considered.

As for Ebbie's original question: cops get frightened too, but they are supposedly trained to cope with that and other things.Training is imperative, but there must also be a psychological makeup that rejects the immediate use of force.

British police started unarmed, but with armed backup, because the people were afraid of police in the "French style." Robert Peel did arm them, very briefly, in the beginning, but it was found that the general level of cop was very low. Although it was required, many could not read or write. Over a couple of centuries this evolved into a very good police force indeed.

A better example might be the German police force -- you might want to check out the training that this armed police force goes through.