Anti- Breed-specific Legislation: Looking for a Compelling Argument
Laws that restrict dog breeds which are thought to be dangerous are called Breed Specific Legislation, or “BSL”. I haven’t made up my mind about them, but I lean in favor of thinking they’re a good thing: after all, (1) we already ban the ownership of many kinds of dangerous animals. And (2) the cost to society and individual freedom isn’t great, e.g.:
“No, you can’t keep that coyote you saw in Powell Butte. And if you want a pet, there are plenty of Labs waiting to be adopted at the Humane Society.”
So I conclude that if there are overly dangerous dog breeds, then it’s reasonable to restrict them in the same way.
A cute but questionable “IQ Test”
But there are many people and groups who advocate against BSL — and in favor of their being able to keep and sell these breeds. Ok, fair enough. And one of them, “Paul Glassner SF/SPCA”, has written a breed ban IQ test that begins,
1. If you were the sheriff in your town and you learned that Toyotas were disproportionally involved in more auto accidents than any other model, would you:
(a) ban Toyotas and confiscate the Toyota of anyone caught driving one
(b) arrest the drivers responsible for those accidents?
And that’s it — those are the only choices. The rest of the test builds on this question and makes the points one might guess it would. And so I found the “test” pretty shoddy—essentially propaganda. Because what about,
(c) look at car ownership to see if a disproportionate number of people own Toyotas as well. If not, investigate the Toyotas to see if they’re flawed by design.
…which then leads to,
(d) potentially all of the above.
Because that’s what we do in the real world: If a car type is too dangerous by design, then we ban it. If a model’s occupants would die from a single low-speed collision, we ban it. Ditto if a model’s brakes are fundamentally flawed.
The car metaphor works in favor of BSL
Now that I think about it, this does apply to dangerous dogs: The overly dangerous dog is one who’s likely to bite more often (a car that causes more accidents), and when it does bite, more often maims or kills its victim (a car that does the same to its occupants). In other words, the “overly dangerous dog” is one that’d be responsible for higher incidence and mortality rates. If there were a car like this — and there have been — you can bet we’d take action against them.
you really have no knowledge of the breed do you? There is no proof that “pit bull” type dogs are inherently more dangerous than any other breed. This is not fact, and has never been proven. A human aggressve lab, german shepard, St bernard, etc can do jsut as much damage as a pit bull if it was to attack. Pit bull is not a breed, it is a description. American pit bull terrier is the only breed in the world with that term in its name. Currently over 20 breeds of dogs are refered to as pit bulls. With that said, people with boxer/lab mixes, american bulldogs, mastiff, etc are being hassled and made to jump through numerous hoops in order to keep their pets.
Let me say, I am not against dangerous dog laws. Making them breed sprecific is what I have a problem with. BSL solves nothing. When someone is bit by any dog, usually the dog is put down, but nothing happens to the owner. He or she is able to go right out and buy another. Making stricter laws towards owners is more effective then claiming dogs are born vicous based on looks and not behavior.
“There is no proof that “pit bull” type dogs are inherently more dangerous than any other breed. This is not fact, and has never been proven.”
There is, and it has been:
http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html
“A human aggressve lab, german shepard, St bernard, etc can do just as much damage as a pit bull if it was to attack.”
Maybe they could if they were to; but apparently, they just don’t. So I’m not concerned about them.
You really need to get another website to cite. “dogbitelaw” is your only source of info you use to attack Pitties. So nice research is in order I guess.
You’re an Idiot. That is all.