Thousands of police officers will be asked if they want to be armed.
All members of the Metropolitan Police Federation will have the opportunity to state whether they would be willing to carry a gun or a Taser.
They will also be asked if the prospect of being armed at all times would put them off the job altogether.
Last year Scotland Yard announced plans to increase the number of firearms officers in the capital by 600 in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015.
Nationally the number of armed police is going up by 1,500.
The Met Police Federation is asking all 32,000 of its officers whether or not they would be happy to be armed on duty.
Questions for those taking part in the survey cover both Tasers and firearms, including whether they would want to carry them at all times on duty.
Officers will be asked for their views on whether they think there should be more officers carrying guns in London or if the thought of carrying a gun would make them leave the job.
Most police personnel in the UK are unarmed, setting the country apart from most other nations around the world.
But the question of whether officers should carry guns as a matter of course has been debated for decades, and the issue has come under scrutiny again after recent atrocities in Europe.
Previous research has suggested the majority of police are opposed to any change in approach, but surveys of members of the public have proved less conclusive.
A poll in the wake of the Paris attacks found 58 per cent of people believed officers should be routinely armed.
For more than two years the official threat level for international terrorism in the UK has stood at severe, meaning an attack is “highly likely”.
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.
