Dogs and Guns

I can’t remember how I got there, but I ended up reading this post about a dog saving a boy. It takes place in Chicago. The neighbor’s pit bull gets loose, goes on a rampage, and attacks a homeowner and then a 12 year old boy. Homeowners Lab attacks neighbors pit bull, fights valiantly, gets beaten soundly, and pit bull runs into homeowner’s house. Cops arrive, shoot pit bull nine times, pit bull is later euthanized.

The Chicago Sun-times hails it as the best dog story ever. I see it a bit differently. The dog’s owner was fined for not properly securing the dog and not having a dog permit. The boy the dog attacked was sent to the hospital. The Lab will need surgery.

I have several issues with this

1. Handguns are severely restricted in Chicago. This homeowner may have had access to a rifle or shotgun, but the close-in nature of the engagement made their use unacceptable

2. Guns are bad, but pit bull (a dog with no sporting purpose other than savage attacks) is okay

3. The owner of the dog got a ticket for not keeping his dog leashed

4. Cops had to shoot the dog nine times with 9mm and .38

Had the pit bull attacked my child, I would separate the dog from my child (or any child) with my bare hands if I had to, and then proceed to kill the dog (again, with my bare hands, if need be.) It’s too bad that the citizens of Chicago are not allowed (by law) the tools necessary to protect themselves.

Not all pit bulls are bad. Some are very sweet. Until precious has your daughter’s throat between her teeth. Killer bees are very docile. (Right until they are agitated, and then attack with uncommon vigor.) Would you let your neighbor keep them in the back yard? It is a breed of dog that should be hunted down to extinction.

The owner of the dog should be held accountable for a violent attack on a child and punished accordingly. If my dog were to attack a child (that hadn’t provoked him) the dog would find itself going on a one way trip to the woods with me and a shovel. The owner failed to secure the dog, and the dog attacked. What if the owner had left a loaded firearm in the driveway and the neighbor’s kids found it and were playing with it and shot a child? Would the man then go to jail? You bet your ass he would.

The police had to shoot NINE TIMES to stop the dog from attacking, and it still wasn’t dead. Indeed; having shot my fair share of dogs, they are harder to kill than you’d think. 9mm is not a preferred pistol round for this (or any other, IMHO) application. .38 even less so. Cops should carry big-bore weapons, either .45 or better. After the dog went down from the first volley, one of the cops should have “checked his work” and put one right through the dogs’ eyes. Blind dogs don’t attack so well.

So there you have it. A Heroic dog story that was a heroic dog story because one neighbor couldn’t protect herself, her family, or her property from an attacker. Good thing the dog was there. If the homeowner had been a cat fancier, would we be reading about a dead child, mauled by a pit bull? If she had been a member of the nation of riflemen, would this have made the evening news?

Something to think about.

Definitely going gun shopping when I get home.

Chuck