Why do Policemen have guns?

Yesterday we were at Walmart grabbing a few things. On one of the isles Hayden picked up a bottle of cupcake sprinkles, accidentally dropped it, and broke it. I picked it up, kicked the sprinkles over and told him not to touch stuff in the store. I also told him that he could get in trouble if anyone saw him do that (gotta scare the kid- right). We moved on, paid, and went on our merry way.

A bit later, in the car, Hayden said, "Why do policemen have guns?" We explained why they have guns. He thought a bit and said, "Do policemen come for falling food?" At this point we weren't sure where he was going with this, so we told him that if the falling food was hurting someone the police may come. About 30 seconds passed and he said, "will they come if the falling food happens just once?" 

I looked to the back seat and he had a really worried look on his face. Mike and I then both realized he was scared about a policeman coming to get him in trouble for the sprinkles. It was one of those moments that we were trying not to bust out laughing and trying to comfort him at the same time. It was so sad and funny at the same time. I felt so bad for him, my sweet little boy.