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How About a Ban on Bans?

There are two measures facing the City-County Council over the course of the next month or so that illustrate to me the perfect example of government with misplaced priorities. One is a ban on shooting off weapons. The other is a possible ban on pit bulls.

The shooting ban is proposed by Councilor Angela Mansfield. It got out of committee with a do-not pass recommendation. I am not a gun owner, but I respect the rights of gun ownership. And I personally don’t think this ban would do anything. On any given night shots are fired all over Marion County. There is no way the police (who are at least 120 short staff-wise) could make it to the shooting to enforce the law. And if you were to call 911 to report the shooting, you’ll be on hold for at least 5 minutes, so that’s plenty of time for the shooter to get away or come after you.

On the pit bull ban, which is still in the drafting stage, I frankly don’t see how 23 Animal Control Officers are going to get their hands on an estimated 50,000 pit bulls. And what is a pit bull anyway? Are we talking pure bred, half-bread, a mutt? What will the city do? If you have a mutt, will it just cut out the part that is a pit bull and give you the rest? Will the city grandfather in the ban? So if you have a pit bull now you’re free and clear, but any new pit bulls would be destroyed? I can see the image right now of Animal Control Officers going door to door killing the first born pit bull and an owner putting their pit bull in the White River where it is picked up by another family. And 30 years later the pit bull comes back and demands whoever is Mayor to let his fellow pit bulls go. I know this is silly, but so is a ban.

I am all for improving the quality of life in Marion County. I’m here too, you know. But outright bans never really solve the problem. More police on the street, less fudging of the bail bond system that puts criminals on the street, community involvement and healthy job creation and schools that provide real education are how you improve the quality of life in an area, not silly bans that make people feel good but do nothing to solve the real problem.

Posted: 06|3|07 at 7:31 pm by Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
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  • Anonymous

    The ban on shooting, pit bulls, new street lights, and all the other band-aids are just that. A band-aid when the patient, Indianapolis in this case, is having a massive coronary and is bleeding out and FINALLY the citizens are getting tired of the cosmetic applications. Time to get real here on dealing with crime holding people accountable.

  • Bill Brown

    Abdul,

    This goes to show you how far hizzonor and the CCC are out of touch with the citizens of this county.
    They need to clean up crime, corruption including their own council members and maybe ever an abandoned house or two. maybe even patch a pothole or two.Fund public safety and tell Jim Ursay and the Simon brothers to get a free lunch somewhere else.

  • Jeremy Noel

    The pit bull ban infuriates me, as do all breed-specific bans. I can certainly understand where City Councils and concerned citizens get the idea that a pit bull ban is warranted; I’m sure they are people and children who have been attacked by pit bulls. But the breed didn’t attack, harm, or bite those people; bad breeding and badly raised pets did. If you want to stop animals from biting people, don’t ban the breed that gets the most headlines; make it an affirmative responsibility of pit bull owners to train their dogs and present documentation of training to the city.
    Or, to emulate what the U.K. and Bavaria have done, you can require pit bulls and rottweilers to be muzzled when out in public. But banning a breed isn’t going to work. THe only dog ban that would be effective is stupid owner bans.

    And, for the record, the only dog that has bitten me was a Lhasa apso. Those little bastards are mean.

  • Teacher

    If the CCC passes the ban on pit bulls, thereby making it illegal to own any dog that COULD be classified as a pit bull, I may lose my job. My husband and I are the proud owners of two dogs, an American bull dog (age 1 1/2) and a Colby’s American pit bull . They are the most obedient, even-tempered, loyal, friendly dogs that I have ever encountered. It angers me to see an entire breed targeted because of what ignorant human beings have done. Banning an entire breed (which actually includes numerous breeds of dogs, since pit bulls come from the bull terrier line) will do nothing but increase the workload of the already under-staffed police department. It will only make things worse because it will cause things to get to the point where only criminals own the dogs. Law-abiding people, who raise their dogs to be gentle and loving, will no longer be allowed to do so; therefore, the number of vicious dogs will increase. I’m sorry if I’m rambling here, but this upsets me highly! We rescued both of our dogs, one when she was only two weeks old and the other at six weeks. They are a part of our family.

    If this ban is passed, I will actually be guilty of a crime, which could jeapordize my career as a teacher. Isn’t that silly?

  • anonymous

    the pitbull banning is shitty cause. its the owner of the dog that makes him what hel be and they wont get mine even if they ban them. so let it be and leave them alone.

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