I'm sorry, perhaps I am not getting your point with this guys not to funny stand up?
My point was, I would never touch a gun, unloaded or loaded, when an officer is around.
The way I see it, it's best if the gun stays where it is.
If a officer is concerned for his safety, and wants to take possession of my gun(s) while I'm being detained, he's going to be the one touching it.
I don't want some nervous cop shooting me because of some unforeseen, or startling, thing that happened while trying to retrieve my gun to give to him.
In a situation where an officer wants to retrieve my gun, I'll probably do my best to make sure an officer doesn't. I'll try to talk him out of it and convince him that the gun isn't a threat.
If the officer does retrieve the gun himself, and it's loaded, the cop will, most likely, take the mag out and unchamber the round in the pipe. I have no clue if the officer knows the controls of my particular gun and how it works. I have no clue if he/she even knows firearm safety. Going to the range to qualify every now or then doesn't make one proficient and knowledgeable in firearm safety.
If you read the stories on here about detentions where cops temporarily seize open carriers' guns, then you know there seems to be a chance that you may get muzzled during the unloading process, increasing the chances of you being shot with your own gun.
Though, in your case, the cop didn't seem to have a problem with you handling a noticeably unloaded firearm. I'm glad everything went OK. As you may see in this thread or others, a lot of us prefer to not touch or handle firearms while people with badges and guns, who work for the government, are around.
If it were me in your situation, I would have refused to touch my firearm and told the officer that the firearm is not a safety concern, especially since it was all the way in the back seat with the action open and no mag in it.
It sounded like the cop either just wanted to be a d*%k, or he thought you might use the gun on him.