Polite words, with a calm, even, and friendly voice will almost always help in any situation. In a traffic stop, I hand over both my drivers license, and my CCW permit. Most of the older cops know that those of us who bother to go through the process are the good guys, and handing the CCW over will actually lower whatever tension may be present.
Last time I was stopped, the cop asked if I was currently armed, and I replied in the affirmative and added "otherwise what would be the point"? He laughed and made a comment that I wouldn't believe how many people have the card, but don't bother to carry. We chatted a bit about why he stopped me, (it was completely legit) and the encounter ended without a citation.
Ha, I was stopped in Arizona on a highway and the DPS officer asked if I had any weapons with me. My response was, “yes, of course I’m lawfully armed,” and he laughed so hard he almost fell over. Then we had a physics discussion about following too closely (someone cut me off and slammed on the brakes ahead of me when they saw the ) followed by a discussion about ticket quotas and how body cam and patrol car footage can be retrieved when contesting tickets and ultimately I ended up with a warning...