That's about an 11 on my "uncomfortableness" meter. I have cops as friends, and I shoot with cops regularly. But there are a LOT of pitfalls in this little encounter.
A holstered gun is a safe gun. The most dangerous moment of your average day is loading/unloading/holsering, etc. your carry weapon. It requires a safe area to work in, and a backstop or safe muzzle zone. Some public parking lot in a neighborhood sure isn't it. In fact, the idea is absurd! I don't let my shooters who come to my matches unload, change guns, holster up, or othewise handle their weapons in the parking lot of our range. And those are guys and gals I KNOW, who prove their safety standards every week/month. Why would it be o.k. for Joe Public Me and some Policeman to do so in a completely uncontrolled public location? Egads!
Second, a related point: I like to either know very well the person I'm handing my gun to, and/or to be in complete control of the situation. I know my gunhandling protocols, but I don't know his. And, yet, whether we're saying so openly or not, HE is in charge of this situation, for the most part. If his safety practices aren't up to snuff (and let's be honest here ...
) I'm not in a great position to enforce the proper ones. Now how pleasant is our conversation going to turn out if I have to tell him that I'm going to file a complaint if he sweeps me with my gun (or the folks at the gas pumps, the neighborhood kids on the sidewalk, etc.) one more time?
Third, as others have said, there are some laws that can be technically broken without meaning any harm -- and officers may accidentally be culpable as well. I have no desire to stand in a parking lot and break a state law WITH a cop, any more than I want to at any other time.
Further, here in PA, we have an unresolved problem with our State Police registry of handgun sales which isn't a registry of owners or guns (uh, yeah... how's that again?) but which has sometimes been abused to confiscate (even if temporarily) carried guns that don't appear in that registry for perfectly legal reasons. So, not knowing exactly what's going to go down in this little conversation, I'm very hesitant to voluntarily hand over my sidearm to a law-enforcement officer who might or might not have my very best interests at heart. If he comes up with probable cause to demand I surrender it, I'll have to deal. If I hand it to him willingly, well, shame on me!
Now, I'm a very polite, friendly person. I really have no desire to rebuff an honestly friendly chat with my local LEOs. But I would probably try to steer that conversation in some other direction as best as I could. I think I'm leaning towards a response something like, "Oh, I'd love to, but I'm very uncomfortable drawing and handling my sidearm in a public place. Here, let me give you my phone number and if you've got a free evening, you're welcomed to come out to my club with me and shoot it all you'd like! Etc..."
This gets even trickier as here in the Commonwealth, "Concealed means concealed" means NOTHING. Open carry is perfectly legal. So the question may come up regularly. Especially if you wear some nice "barbeque" gun. It is a tough one.
..............
It's a felony to touch your gun while in the presence of a Police Officer. Plain and simple, cut and dried.
Yikes! Apparantly I'm a felon nearly every week!