Pit bull bans miss the mark

By Corey Friedman

Government has a knack for using tragedy to justify tyranny.

Deranged gunmen open fire on innocent victims and lawmakers restrict responsible citizens’ Second Amendment rights. Would-be terrorists smuggle explosives onto commercial air flights, so travelers endure body scans and patdowns.

A pit bull (Courtesy ASPCA)

In Shelby, N.C.,  the City Council might consider placing restrictions on pit bull owners in response to the tragic mauling in Waxhaw last week that took the life of a 5-year-old girl. Councilman Joel Shores has recommended that the board examine pit bull-specific animal ordinances that he believes would help protect children from aggressive dogs.

Shores said some North Carolina cities require pit bull owners to muzzle the dogs when walking them on a leash, set rules for the size and type of cage they must be kept in and even make residents buy liability insurance in order to own pit bulls. While these rules stop short of an outright ban on the breed, they still interfere with private property rights and penalize responsible dog owners for others’ failings.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a study on human deaths from dog bites in 2000 and concluded that the data didn’t support increased regulation of specific breeds.

“Because of difficulties inherent in determining a dog’s breed with certainty, enforcement of breed-specific ordinances raises constitutional and practical issues,” concludes a CDC report on the study. “Fatal attacks represent a small proportion of dog bite injuries to humans and, therefore, should not be the primary factor driving public policy concerning dangerous dogs.”

Community colleges to ban ‘threatening’ students

By William R. Toler

By next spring, prospective students could be shown the door instead of an open door at their local community college.

The NC Board of Community Colleges voted Friday to ban “threatening students” just weeks after a former community college student allegedly attempted to assasinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) at a public event.

Board members told News Carolina 14 that the policy has been in consideration for about a year.

The policy, although adopted, still has to before a rules commission before it can take effect…G-d help us if it does.

N.C. smoking ban fouls the air

By Corey Friedman

The smoke has cleared, and the law still stinks.

A state law banning smoking in North Carolina restaurants and bars turned a year old this month. Restaurant owners across the Tar Heel State have gotten used to the ban, and outrage that many expressed before the law’s passage has dissipated like a wisp of smoke in a crowded diner.

The widespread ambivalence doesn’t show that burdening business owners with needless restrictions was the right thing to do, however. It proves only that restaurateurs have learned to live with a bad law.

Cigarette smoking is a dangerous habit, but it’s one that millions of adult citizens choose. Secondhand smoke causes nearly 50,000 deaths per year, according to the American Cancer Society. About 46,000 of those deaths are due to heart disease in nonsmokers who live with smokers.