Two Toronto police officers are asking a judge to allow them to carry guns on the job pending their appeal of convictions for assaulting a disabled man.

Consts. Edward Ing, 42, and John Cruz, 38, were in Ontario Superior Court Wednesday asking a judge to temporarily stay a provincial court ruling barring them from carrying firearms.

Justice Maureen Forestell said she will rule Thursday on their application.

Alan Gold, their lawyer, argued that allowing them to carry service pistols pending their appeals would enable them to pursue a wider range of career opportunities within the force.

But Crown counsel Milan Rupic said it would be an error to allow them to use firearms.

In January, provincial court Justice Elliott Allen convicted the officers of assault causing bodily harm in the beating of retired ironworker Richard Moore.

Last month, Allen sentenced them to a year of house arrest, but allowed them to leave their homes for employment and other purposes.

Allen also ordered them not to possess firearms for 10 years.

The two officers are suspended from the force without pay.

Moore, 60, suffered many injuries — including fractured ribs — in April 2009 when he was arrested near his Jarvis and Gerrard St. E.-area home by Ing and Cruz for allegedly being drunk in public.