Oklahoma Senate Bill 32 gives a dog a bad name — literally!

Currently, Oklahoma state law doesn’t allow bans on dog breeds. But that could soon change with SB32 which would allow cities to ban dog breeds they don’t much care for.

I’m torn on this. One one hand I look at this as an opportunity for city governments to prohibit people from owning breeds like Pit Bulls — a breed for which I have a soft spot and a breed that is often targeted by government officials.

On the other hand this is a move by the state government that would give more authority to local governments. And I’m all about local communities deciding what’s best for their municipalities.

But I have to ask, is there really any reason to ban an entire breed on any level of government — city, state OR national? One bad apple doesn’t really spoil the bunch, eh?

This National Geographic article brings up a good point regarding breed-specific bans — that if you ban Pit Bulls and Rottweilers today, then just a few generations from now breeds like the German Shepard or maybe even a Yellow Lab could be the next “dangerous” breed because it’s people who bring these dogs into dog fighting rings. It’s people who are socializing litters and litters of dogs to be aggressive so they can make an extra buck in these inhumane fights. Of course there are those people out there in the nature vs. nurture debate who will say some breeds are just born viscous, but I’m not one for generalizations and I believe in the underdog.

More generally, this sparks the larger debate of whether bans, in general, do more harm than good?

But getting back to Oklahoma’s SB32, if you don’t want this bill to have a dog’s chance of getting passed (I make no apologies for this pun), then feel free to contact the State Senator who’s behind it — Senator Patrick Anderson.

If you live in Oklahoma and you think that the government telling you what kind of dog you can own is wrong — feel free to contact Oklahoma State Senator Patrick Anderson.