If anything, trying to paint this as just “bad owners” is the more race essentialist version of this argument. That argument attempts to place blame on people who own them over the dogs themselves, who likely happen to skew towards lower income folks which implies a race skew as well. But, a “bad owner” would do a lot less harm with a Lab or even a Chihuahua than they would with a pit bull.
It’s not just bite strength or temperament, it’s that these dogs are intentionally bred to go for the kill when their fight instinct is triggered. Nobody sets out to be a bad owner, or believes they are one, and other breeds don’t kill when they bite regardless of who their owner is. Eliminating “bad owners” isn’t really a problem that can be solved to reduce dog bite statistics, at least without specific regards to breed, because it is specifically this breed with those “bad owners” that is the issue.
If anything, trying to paint this as just “bad owners” is the more race essentialist version of this argument. That argument attempts to place blame on people who own them over the dogs themselves, who likely happen to skew towards lower income folks which implies a race skew as well. But, a “bad owner” would do a lot less harm with a Lab or even a Chihuahua than they would with a pit bull.
It’s not just bite strength or temperament, it’s that these dogs are intentionally bred to go for the kill when their fight instinct is triggered. Nobody sets out to be a bad owner, or believes they are one, and other breeds don’t kill when they bite regardless of who their owner is. Eliminating “bad owners” isn’t really a problem that can be solved to reduce dog bite statistics, at least without specific regards to breed, because it is specifically this breed with those “bad owners” that is the issue.
It’s a deflection. Dare I say, it’s projection.