Does an ordinance banning pitbulls (or anything else, for that matter) retroactively, qualify as ex post facto law? I’m no lawyer, but it sure looks like it, at face value. Banning anything – drugs, guns, dogs – does precious little to deter people who are already breaking existing laws from breaking more laws in the future. Criminals have a disposition for crime, and a disregard for law and order. Piling new laws on top of the ineffective old ones will not solve the problem. The only clear result of such legislation is that people who are generally disposed towards obedience to the law will give up something that they previously valued, out of fear of punishment.
KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Animal control officials said 149 illegal pit bulls have been turned in or confiscated in the two weeks since the city increased its enforcement of a ban on the breed.
The immediate bias comes out in this article, which I happened upon via The Agitator. The lead sentence of the article suggests that dangerous (illegal) dogs have been removed from the streets. In accordance with its sensationalist purpose, the first thought that crossed my mind was something along the lines of “Balko’s blowing this out of proportion, although I agree with him (that outright bans are a violation of rights) he seems to be misrepresenting the facts in this case.”
And then I read the first sentence again, in context with the article. Of the 149 “illegal” dogs that have been turned in or confiscated in the last fortnight, how many of them were the property of known drug dealers? Dog-fighters? Psychos waiting to unleash a trained killer on the streets of Kansas City? How many belonged to violent felons? The article doesn’t say. I’d wager that the great majority of them are only nominally illegal. They posed no great threat to society in general, and were cared for by generally law-abiding citizens. If this is not the case, then the gummint has some ‘splainin’ to do. If all these dogs were turned in by hardened criminals, the government has failed to keep them off the streets, thusly safeguarding the rest of society.
The pit-bull “problem,” if it is a problem at all (and I doubt this), is a clear case of government failure; failure to enforce existing laws, and punish criminals. When governments fail, the costs of such failure fall disproportionately upon the law-abiders.
(both pictures found at happypitbull.com)
