Pit Bull Bans: The Biting Truth

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There are breeds that can be classified as outlaws. How can that be? It is like judging a book by its cover, and is not that frowned upon? Society has gone so far with this that there are even laws banning pit bulls in certain counties. Fines have been put in place and outrageous insurance policies must be purchased simply to own a dog. A dog is just that, a dog, until someone comes along and makes it into a monster. A dog may be bred to do something and can be trained to do an entirely different thing. For example, pit bulls have been bred to be nanny dogs. They are supposed to protect babies and ultimately care for them like they would their own pups. Some people have taken this instinct and turned it into something horrid. They have twisted the dogs mind into thinking that it has to fight to protect something all the time. Pit bulls have been classified as vicious and harmful animals. This is discrimination and is because of media skewing stories, ignorant people that refuse to listen to hard facts, and public attitudes and opinions. These laws against breeds are unconstitutional; there is no legislative basis for these laws.
Pit bulls, like any other dog, grow into their temperament. The way the dog is raised rounds out their character and general temperament. According to the “American Temperament Test Society: Pit bulls pass temperament tests 84.1% of the time, which ranks them slightly better than golden retrievers (83.8%) and cocker spaniels (81.7%), and well above miniature schnauzers (78.6%),” (The Biting Truth). Myths have generated atrocious attitudes towards this breed for years. The nature of the dog to be a protector to children and the bulky build of pit bulls makes them a very easy breed to target. These opinions ...

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...in more than 230 articles in national and international newspapers and on the major cable news networks.”
Media over exposes anything that has a negative effect on the pit bull breeds. It is their goal to adversely affect said breeds. These atrocious opinions of reporters distort the views of the public, making them think that one breed is a monstrous threat to society and needs to be banned. Breed specific legislation is unlawful and should be prohibited.

Works Cited

Campbell, Dana M. "Pit Bull Bans: The State Of Breed-Specific Legislation." Gpsolo 26.5 (2009): 36-41. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
"Pit Dolls: The Legal History." DVM: The Newsmagazine Of Veterinary Medicine 37.12 (2006): 8. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
Skloot, Rebecca. "The Biting Truth." Prevention 59.8 (2007): 196-198. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

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