I guess I don't get the pit bull hysteria. There are on average 43 Americans killed by dogs each year. About 60% of those are killed by pit bulls or groups of dogs that include pit bulls. That means about 25-28 people are killed by pits in the average year.

I guess it's the accountant in me, but running the numbers tells me I have a 1 in 14 million chance of being killed by a pit bull. That seems likely because I have never known of anyone killed by a dog, much less a pit bull. I remember when Lotto Texas started the tickets said there was something like a 1 in 15.6 million chance of winning. Coincidentally, I also never won the lottery.

On the other hand, we did get slammed into and our car totalled by a guy who was texting last November. I'm not planning to start a campaign to eradicate cell phones...or eye liner...or bags of French fries...or crying or misbehaving children in back seats. I guess I believe there is no such thing as life with zero risk. I don't think I would want to live it if there was.

I frankly don't believe that there is a 1 in 690 chance of being mauled by a pit bull each year. That would mean that a person who lives to be 80 years old would have a 1 in 8.6 chance of being attacked by pit bulls. Ask yourselves if that number seems reasonable. It's not as far as I am concerned. I've never known anyone who was mangled by a pit bull and I've been associated with slightly more than 8-9 people in my lifetime.

I guess I don't get the pit bull hysteria. There are on average 43 Americans killed by dogs each year. About 60% of those are killed by pit bulls or groups of dogs that include pit bulls. That means about 25-28 people are killed by pits in the average year.

I guess it's the accountant in me, but running the numbers tells me I have a 1 in 14 million chance of being killed by a pit bull. That seems likely because I have never known of anyone killed by a dog, much less a pit bull. I remember when Lotto Texas started the tickets said there was something like a 1 in 15.6 million chance of winning. Coincidentally, I also never won the lottery.

On the other hand, we did get slammed into and our car totalled by a guy who was texting last November. I'm not planning to start a campaign to eradicate cell phones...or eye liner...or bags of French fries...or crying or misbehaving children in back seats. I guess I believe there is no such thing as life with zero risk. I don't think I would want to live it if there was.

Pit bulls should have been eradicated a long time ago. No good reason to have them around.

Any decision like this is a cost to benefit analysis. The benefits to cell phones, eye liner, french fries far outweigh the costs. There is no discernable benefit to pit bulls, and significant cost to the people who are mauled by them due to irresponsible owners. These people mostly died horrible, horrible deaths being torn to shreds by animals that no reasonable person should own. Shoot them all. Twice

I hate to say this ---owning a Pit bull for some cultures is like a badge of honor . King of the Hill type stuff . Use them for protection and threat posturing