UNDERDOGS

Proposed Missouri Bill Would Strike Down Pit Bull Bans

The state may soon have a law against banning specific dog breeds—including pit bulls.

A Missouri bill is sticking up for the underdog—several breeds of underdogs, in fact.

Bill HB 1811, sponsored by state rep Ron Hicks, would reverse city-level bans against individual breeds of dogs—including pit bulls.

Several cities in Missouri and elsewhere have bans on the controversial breed, which have a reputation for violence. So far, the ban on bans has passed in Missouri’s House of Representatives. If it makes it through the Missouri state senate, every municipality in the state will have to let every breed in, and some aren’t happy about it.

“It’s very dangerous because you take all the things that a small city was meant to be in the first place and you’re starting to take away their power and their power of rules,” Mike Polizzi, mayor of the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, told KSDK. Fenton currently bans pit bulls.

Supporters of the potential bill say the local bans do more harm than good.

"It causes otherwise good dogs to be homeless and euthanized,” dog owner Theresa May told WDAF, “and it's not doing what the people of Independence think it's doing. It's not getting large-breed dogs off our streets and out of our parks.”

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