Although much is known about attitudes towards police and weapon carrying independently, it is unclear whether the two factors are associated, so the current study examined the potential association between attitudes toward police and weapon carrying in a sample of adolescents, as well as whether it was moderated by race.
After adjusting for age, gender, perceived risk of victimization, and violence victimization, logistic regression models indicated that more positive attitudes toward police were associated with lower weapon carrying. The association between attitudes toward police and weapon carrying was larger among Black youth than among non-Black youth. These results suggest that race plays a significant role in this association. Efforts to build positive community-police relationships may be an effective strategy for reducing weapon carrying. (publisher abstract modified)