Enough “All Pit Bulls Are Bad”

  Posted on May 3, 2012  by Joy of Living  No comments

As I’ve written here before, I have a problem with breed-specific legislation that singles out pit bulls. In reading online today, I found yet another story of BSL, this time in Maryland.

The Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that pit bulls are “inherently dangerous” and anyone owning a pit bull or pit bull mix could be arrested, serve six months in jail and incur a $1,000 fine.  This ruling came on the heels of a case involving a young boy that suffering life threatening injuries from a pit bull attack.

This is a very sad example of discrimination.  Pit bulls, or any dog breed for that matter, can be considered dangerous if not trained and socialized properly.  There’s also something to be said for how a person approaches a dog they don’t know.  Pit bulls, as with most dog breeds, will protect their people and what they consider their territory when an unknown person approaches.

To say that this breed is “inherently dangerous” is not so different from discriminating against all members of a particular race or religion.  Yes, there are “bad” pit bulls, but that’s not ALL pit bulls, just as there are bad people in various races or religions but that doesn’t make ALL members of the race or religion automatically bad people!

Interestingly, the site that ran this story is conducting a poll on whether readers consider pit bulls inherently bad, and the results thus far with over 37,000 votes show 55% say no, 42% say yes.

What are your thoughts regarding breed specific legislation?

If you’d like to read the entire article, go to http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/02/11500617-maryland-court-finds-pit-bulls-are-inherently-dangerous?lite