What do you mean by "fear of reprisal"? It seemed pretty clear to me that they didn't want to head in for fear of confronting someone who can shoot back for a change.
This is a confusing statement. Isn't it good if police aren't used to confronting armed criminals?
If the police aren't used to confronting armed threats, then clearly in the vast majority of cases they shouldn't need to be armed themselves.
Are you saying these officers' performance would've improved if they hadn't been armed? Why?
It wouldn't have helped in Uvalde if police weren't armed by default, but I'm not sure anything would have helped, because they already had all the tools they needed for that situation.