It is a fair question and deserves a fair answer.
First it is in the law to allow disarming a suspect. The same takes place in a domestic house call. The residents are removed from access to weapons. If one looks at the stats for officer injury or death, they will find traffic stops and domestic calls cause most problems for LEO. In fact, google officer shot during traffic stop and you will get more than a quarter million hits. Allowing for multiple stories, we can narrow it down to about 25,000 instances. I have a web site showing every officer killed in the line of duty and there are many, many that died in a routine traffic stop.
As to handcuffing, it is not as threatening when a person is unarmed than when they are armed. True enough there are those that will fight with an officer but officers are trained to handle personal attacks and do so far better than handling a shooting. People are cuffed when there are safety reasons involved. A law abiding citizen will not generally attack an officer during a traffic stop but if they do and if they have a firearm, the potential for harm increases. Cuffing someone for temprary detainment also raises the anger level for the citizen. It is best to make a decision to cuff only following the likelyhood of a pending arrest.
FWIW: Back about 1969 during training, we were shown posed photos during traffic stops. A full size semi auto was placed on top of the console of a vehicle with floor shift. The first vehicle driver was a well built lady with a low cut top. The next vehicle driver was a male that needed a shave. Almost all the trainees noticed the gun with the male driver but only a very few noticed the gun with the female driver. Same car, same gun but different drivers. Each stop is different but all are potentially dangerous.
I was visiting an attorney's office for a deposition a few years ago and was armed. There was a man at the table also being deposed in the criminal proceedings. Nobody was paying any attention to him but he suddenly reached into his front pocket and pulled a derringer handgun. I was maybe ten feet away but was able to reach him and disarm the man before he could do harm to anyone. An arresting officer arrived and was escorting him out of the office on the way to jail. The man began a fight as they entered the lobby and he knocked the officer to the ground and was trying to reach the officers sidearm. Again, I tackled the man and all ended well. You never know what may happen with an armed person. This man was there only for a deposition and was not threatened or at risk for anything yet he pulled a gun over something that was said he did not like.
I should also mention that the worst thing that would have happened the man was he could have gotten six months in jail yet he was willing to up the stakes.
With the increase seen in all areas and economic levels of drug and alcohol use, we may be dealing with those wo are not in a normal mental state and lack rational thought process.
Now I ask you, do you want to be alone, on the side of a roadway talking about possible traffic violations or worse when you do not know the person you are speaking with, do not know the history of that person or what they may have ingested but them be armed? I can deal with an old fashioned fist fight but I hate being shot. BTW: I got the worst whipping of my life by a lady that was maybe 5'5" and weighed about 140 pounds. She took me to the ground and beat the snot out of me before she got tired of whipping on me.
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