Summer Ballentine

Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri cities no longer could ban pit bulls or impose rules on certain dog breeds under legislation that advanced this past week in the Legislature.

Republican Rep. Ron Hicks, who is behind the measure, said those breed-specific ordinances amount to doggy discrimination, and said it’s time muzzle municipalities from targeting dogs that he said unfairly receive a bad rap.

“It’s not the dog. It’s not the breed. It’s the owner,” said Hicks, a St. Peters resident who owns a boxer named Rosie. “We should hold the owner responsible for the dog’s action, not the animal.”

The measure, which passed 117-17 out of the House on Thursday, would allow local governments to adopt bans on unleashed dogs or pass other general regulations. But cities couldn’t single out specific breeds, such as pit bulls.

Missouri would be the 20th state to pass legislation limiting local restrictions on pit bulls, according to Colleen Lynn, whose organization, DogsBite.org, seeks to reduce serious dog attacks. Sixteen states prohibit pit bull bans.

Lynn said pit bulls are especially dangerous because they inflict more damage during attacks than other breeds.

“Whenever pit bulls show up, they’re killing disproportionately,” Lynn said. “Cities have taken action in that area.”

Brent Toellner, president and co-founder of Kansas City Pet Project, which runs a no-kill Kansas City animal shelter, said pit bull bites aren’t physiologically different than those of other dogs.

He said the severity of injuries from dog attacks depends on the size of the person bitten and the size of the dog, meaning it’s not just pit bulls that can inflict major damage.

Toellner said ordinances against pit bulls are “fear based.” He advocates for more general rules on violent dogs.

“When you target the breed, you end up encompassing a lot of dogs that are really well behaved and really good dogs in good families,” Toellner said.

Hicks said it can also be difficult to accurately determine a dog’s breed, and that can mean families are unfairly separated from their pets. For example, he said his boxer could be mistaken for a pit bull.

Some critics of Hicks’ bill say the state shouldn’t be deciding the issue for communities.

“It’s really up to the local level,” Missouri Municipal League Deputy Director Richard Sheets said. “I don’t see how the General Assembly can say what’s right for one community, because it’s just a varying situation.”

Independence, which borders Kansas City, banned pit bulls in 2006 after five attacks by the dogs left three men hospitalized.

Mayor Eileen Weir said dog bite incidents haven’t decreased since the ordinance was put in place, but none of the attacks have been as severe as those that led to the policy.

She said the ordinance still is a point of contention between residents who believe it makes the community safer and those who say it’s unfair. She said she thinks communities should decide the issue for themselves.

Hicks’ bill is pending in the Senate. The deadline to pass bills is May 13, the end of the legislative session.