After a pit bull murders a small child the asshole pit bull owner always says it was the kid's fault.

It's not enough to shoot the pit bull. The owner deserves the same treatment.

Fatal Pit Bull Attacks

The rest of this post is a copy and paste job from www.ridingmagazine.com:

California Riding Magazine • August, 2010 Mauled, Mutilated or Dead? by Joy Bruce

How many more family pets, children, people or livestock need to be mauled, mutilated or killed before we legislate a separate classification of dogs who have been bred to kill? Dogs that have been bred to kill such as Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes comprise approximately 68% of all deaths. This is not an accident, it is in their blood. The sad facts are these types of dogs were created by mankind to kill. Like it or not, it remains the essence of the dog. Though they may be sweet to their owners, they are still “hard-wired” to kill. Owners of these dogs argue that if properly socialized and trained, these dogs make great companions and do not pose any more risk than any other breed. That is the argument of “nature versus nurture.” I submit both will be expressed by the dog at some point in it’s lifetime. After all, if breeding for certain characteristics didn’t work, we wouldn’t do it. An owner can make a dog very obedient while under their control but can not erase it’s heritage by socializing or training. These owners would have you believe that it would be surprising that once escaped and around livestock, a Border Collie was herding the livestock! You can not socialize nor train the herding instinct away. Border Collies are hard wired to herd just like Bully breeds are hard-wired to kill. To clarify the meaning of the word “dangerous,” it’s a thing, activity, dog or person that should be considered “dangerous” if it or he presents an unacceptably high risk of serious injury, even before causing harm. If cars, plastic bags, electrical cords and other mundane objects are considered dangerous to some degree because of their potential for harm, not their individual history of crashing, suffocating or electrocuting, why not this assumption of dogs whose heritage is bred to kill? The issue is not whether that particular dog will ever bite, but whether it presents too great a risk for serious injury – not because of what it has done, but because of what others in it’s class have done and the individual is capable of/bred to do. Defining serious injury is needed also. The bites of a teacup-sized dog and retrieving or herding dogs (whose mouths are designed to seize and guide as opposed to crush and rip) do not present the risk of serious injury inherent in the bites of dogs which were bred to kill. The pounds per square inch in the bite of a Shepherd type dog is around 185 lbs. Compare that with a Bully type dog bred to kill, like a Pit Bull, who’s bite is around 540 lbs per sq inch! The fact remains that if almost any other dog has a ‘BAD moment,’ someone may get bitten, but will not be maimed for life or killed. If a dog bred to kill has a ‘BAD moment,’ often someone is maimed for life or killed – and that creates an off-the-chart risk. To argue that it is the owners fault not the dog’s fault is always true but hardly comforting. The dogs' potential to harm rests in the hands of it’s owner. In the case of dogs bred to kill, that is a very dangerous situation because they are treated legally the same as a dog bred to retrieve or herd etc. It is like having the same laws for keeping a wolf as for a collie. The dogs mankind has bred to kill and their victims pay the heaviest price with their well being or life. In my experience, few people have trained their dogs for “re-call and out” (come back & stop chase/attack) under stressful or tempting situations on and off-leash. An obedient dog in the show ring or in the home seems to lose all its training when tempted or triggered by something or someone. Realistically, all dogs escape their back yards, homes or leashes at some time or another, and in this situation the owners have very little if any control. How safe do you feel? The reality is most people CAN NOT STOP in MID-CHASE, their Poodle/Collie/Labrador/Blue Heeler/Jack Russell or whatever breed from chasing/attacking a cat/other dogs/chickens/livestock/people in uniform/a child on a bicycle or a car etc. People who own Bully type dogs bred to kill are no different, but their dogs are. Your safety rests in their hands! Given this reality, it is illogical and unacceptable to expect people to be comforted by being told that the death of their child or family pet or horse was because the owner wasn’t responsible. Why is it that keeping wolves/cougars as pets is banned? I submit it’s partly because of the inherent nature of the wolf/cougar to kill presents too high a risk, even if they are very sweet with their owners and hand raised from a baby. Why then are dogs bred to kill not banned as pets? They are no ordinary dog and should be treated with the respect they deserve. Here are some additional reasons for these dogs to be classified similarly to a dangerous wild predator: Approximately every 21 days in the USA a human is killed by a Bully dog bred to kill. Born with a genetic fault from cross-breeding they never emotionally mature beyond that of a teenager dog.  They are typically an energetic, sweet dog with an un-predictable attack trigger. Currently many Bully breeds are banned or restricted by Insurance companies and airlines due to an unacceptably high risk for expensive claims. Their approximate 540 lbs per sq inch in their bite along with their mouths designed to crush and rip, make them very similar to a wolf in their capability to severely maim and kill. Rescue centers send new owners home with a ‘break bar’ to break their iron grip if they bite someone or something.  58% of dogs euthanized by shelters are bully breeds and their mixes. Bred to be impervious to pain, un-predictable and relentless, a more dangerous characteristic than a wild predator animal whose very survival depends on their being mindful of pain etc. Solutions for Public Safety Rather than breed-specific legislation, classify the variety of breeds bred to kill as prima facie, a legally dangerous and vicious animal subject to the ownership, breeding and importing restrictions that we currently impose on dangerous and vicious wild animals. This is critical for these types of dogs' safety and appropriate treatment not to fall into the hands of amateurs. Treat the owner of a dog bred to kill who attacks a person, livestock or pet as a ‘co-attacker’ and hold them criminally liable for the assault/battery and/or fatality and civilly liable for the damages both physical and emotional. Legally define what constitutes an attack. Some additional requirements might include mandatory spay/neuter, microchip implants, liability insurance whether on or off the owner’s property and prohibiting anyone convicted of a felony from owning one. Legally mandate in-escapable housing, minimums for liability insurance, ban them from certain public areas, require both muzzled and leashed where allowed, require current owners to have their dogs pass a recall and out test (come back & stop chase/attack) both on and off leash under typical stress and temptation like chasing a cat, car or child on a bike. Anything less and these owners inflict upon us, a LETHAL WEAPON NO ONE CAN CONTROL! Establish hot-lines for anonymous tips of violations. Immediately ban the breeding or importing of such dogs except as meets above requirements. Just as it becomes more important to house train and obedience train a big dog than a toy dog, so it becomes more important to respect the capabilities of dogs bred to kill by imposing stricter requirements on their ownership, housing, training and liability than on dogs bred to retrieve or herd or simply be lap dogs. Be pro-active about your safety and that of your family and friends by obtaining a weapon of defense of your choice like pepper spray or a taser or something else and practice using it. Additionally, if you have a dog that has been bred to kill, err always on the side of extremely cautious, train it for re-call and out to perfection on leash and off, keep it muzzled and leashed when in the presence of the public and construct it’s housing to be inescapable.  That is, I believe, what a responsible owner of the dogs mankind created to kill would do, to protect people, other animals and the dogs themselves from grave consequences their heritage can impose. And finally, post this everywhere, and press your legislators for constructive changes for safety.