Metropolitan Police Federation members will be asked if they would be willing to carry either weapon, both, or if the prospect of being armed would put them off the job.
The union, which represents 32,000 London officers, is conducting the survey after Scotland Yard last year announced plans to add 600 armed officers in the capital following terror attacks across Europe.
Nationally, armed police numbers are being boosted by 1,500.
Ken Marsh, chairman of the association, said: "We're not an armed force, we never have been.
"But the terrorism threat in London is constant and our officers must be vigilant and be able to deal swiftly with any scenarios we face.
"We are moving closer towards that by arming 600 more officers and I think it's only fair that we ask our colleagues - who go out there on a daily basis - what they want."
He said the results of the survey - which runs until the end of January - could have a "lot of implications", including the prospect of officers having to pass harder fitness tests to be armed.
The Met Police Federation is being allowed to use the Met's systems for the poll but Scotland Yard said the survey is not being carried out on behalf of, or in partnership with, the force.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The position of the Met and the Commissioner is clear - we are proud to maintain the tradition that police in this country are not routinely armed. The routine arming of the Metropolitan Police is not supported."
"About 92% of the service is unarmed and armed policing is delivered by highly-trained specialist units. There is no plan to seek to change this."
Unlike a majority of nations around the world, most police in the UK are unarmed - but the issue has come under scrutiny after recent atrocities in Europe.
A poll in the wake of the Paris terror attacks found 58% believed officers should be routinely armed.
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