EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Thanks to a fellow member here, I became aware of a proposed bill here in Mississippi. I am asking that not only MS residents, but all dog owners, send e-mails or make a simple phone call to these reps and share your disapproval of this bill. Here is the bill they are proposing:

POTENTIAL STATEWIDE BSL
 MISSISSIPPI RESIDENTS:
 The language of the bill:

“BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The provisions of Sections 1 through 6 shall be known and may be cited as the “Mississippi Regulation of Dangerous Dogs Act.”
SECTION 2. For purposes of Sections 1 through 6 of this act, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed below, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: Dangerous dog means: 1. Any pit bull dog in a class of dogs that specifically includes the
 breeds of American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, American bulldog, and any other pure bred or mixed that is a combination of these breeds.”

The bill creates a list of requirements for owners of dogs designated as restricted and criminal penalties for failure to meet these requirements. Dogs must be muzzled when off the property, secured when on the property either by a kennel or tether. The owner must place a sign on the property alerting the presence of the “dangerous dog,” keep their windows closed in a manner that the dog cannot potentially escape and a person convicted of a felony cannot own a “dangerous dog.”

One thing that stands out is the encouragement of tethering in this bill. The bill specifies that an owner of a “dangerous dog” must “Leash, chain, tie or tether the dog to an inanimate object other than one within a secure enclosure, such as a tree or building.”

The bill gives “law enforcement officers” blanket authority to enter a person’s property in order to check that they are in compliance with the bill.

“In order to determine if there is a violation of this section, a law enforcement officer, at any time, may enter the premises where a dangerous dog is kept, or is believed to be kept, for an on-site inspection of the premises.” (emphasis mine)

This is a costly piece of legislation. The Best Friends fiscal impact calculator estimates the expense of this piece of legislation at almost $4 and a half MILLION dollars a year.

As more and more states prohibit breed discriminatory laws, this would be a huge step back for community safety, and the rights of individuals, as well as starting a potential landslide of even more stringent forms of breed discrimination, such as bans, across the state. We saw this effect in Ohio, when their statewide restrictions were in place.

The language of the bill in general tramples on many constitutional rights in many different ways, as well as allows dogs to be taken and killed off-hand under certain circumstances, regardless as to the actual breed or type of the dog. As usual, we see no thought as to how these dogs will be identified and how people may contest identification, nor is there any understanding for the monumental financial strain this will put on both the state and the dogs owners.

You may view the full text of the bill here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/…/HB/1200-1299/HB1261IN.pdf

It is extremely important you make you voices heard to your legislators as well as the sponsors of this bill.

If you cannot communicate in a polite and factual manner, please limit communication. Phone calls go a long way to making an impact, but must be brief and polite at all times. References can be found for communications about the many failures of breed discriminatory laws under the tab “What is BSL?” http://stopbsl.org/bsloverview/.

You kind find your specific Representatives and Senators, here: http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/

Bills sponsors:

Principal sponsor:
 Representative Larry Byrd, District 104: lbyrd@house.ms.gov, (601)359-3352

 Additional sponsors:
 Representative Randy P. Boyd, District 19: rboyd@house.ms.gov, (601)359-2435
 Representative Lester Carpenter, District 1: lcarpenter@house.ms.gov, (601)359-2425
 Representative Tommy Taylor, District 28: ttaylor@house.ms.gov, Phone N/A

Now here is an exact copy of what I just emailed to not only the above reps but my local reps as well:

Dear Sirs:
     This is in response to the pending legislation, HB 1261, as to regulating vicious/potentially dangerous dogs via breed specific legislation. To be useful, legislation must be effective, enforcible, economical, and reasonably fair. I strongly believe that this proposed bill is none of the above. All dogs are dangerous under certain circumstances. Only when the owner or custodian of the animal does not properly train and confine his/her animal, does that animal pose a potential risk to human safety. A common ingredient to the dog personality is to guard and protect it's owner and property. ANY dog with that personality can become a problem for the public, if that dog is allowed to run loose and is not responsibly supervised. The key word here is responsibility (per Websters, definition of responsibility: Being legally or ethically accountable for the welfare or care of another.) To say certain breeds of dogs are dangerous is not a complete statement. All dogs can be dangerous if in the hands of an irresponsible owner. The plain fact is that there is no relationship between the type of the dog and the number of incidents. If your town has 100 German Shepherds and 1 Poodle, you'll soon learn that the German Shepherds are responsible for 100 times as many incidents as the Poodles. Does this mean that German Shepherds are intrinsically vicious? Of course not. Please retract your breed specific bill/ordinance. Don't punish all of us responsible owners that maintain our dogs as companions and members of our families. We can and do maintain our dogs so they do not pose a threat to anyone, why should we be denied our companions simply because irresponsible owners of the same breed of dog have not "ethically and legally" protected others from injury? There are several samples of existing non-breed specific legislation (ie., the State of California) that is competent to regulate the irresponsible owners and not punish those that maintain their dogs safely and humanely. I, as a responsible dog owner, ask that you seriously consider the impact of breed specific legislation. The irresponsible owners don't care what breed of dog they lose the right to own....they'll find another dog breed to fit their needs. I deeply care, because it threatens me with the loss of a family member.   
In light of the studies, the facts, and the discriminatory nature of the proposed legislation, we urge you to take the following actions:
1. Reject the current legislation, which is contrary to fact and distracts from the real issue: responsible ownership.
2. Work to establish reasonable guidelines for responsible pet ownership, and encourage legislation that supports owner responsibility without reference to specific breeds.
Study after study shows that ANY dog, regardless of breed, will be whatever its owner makes of it....nothing more, nothing less. Owners can and should take responsibility for their pets. We suggest that the appropriate policy is "blame the owner, not the dog." If a dog atacks a person, the law should treat it as though the owner attacked that person. Voting for this proposal as it stands will harm both the law abiding, responsible dog owners and the victims, but it won't solve anything. Controlling the people who abuse the owner/dog relationship through ignorance or otherwise is a far better and wiser solution to the problem that these owners present to their neighbors, no matter what breed of dog they own. I am a retired Veterinary Technician of 14 years, and I have been actively invovled in rescuing, training, showing and hunting various bull breeds throughout my lifetime. I have never once been bitten by a bull breed. I have however, been bitten by various multiple toy breed dogs over the years. Point being, the potential of bites is not specific to any one breed or type. I hope that you will take these facts into consideration. Thank you for your time.
 
Krystale Krementz
ADBA Safe Dog Trainer/Evaluator
Mississippi Hunting Dog Association Member
Kiln, MS
(228)-304-0809

I thank any of y'all in advance who send an email or make a call. As we know, this can happen to any of us in our home towns.

Sorry all that text came out jumbled. I had it nicely laid out, but it didn't post the same way.

Sorry yall....id just like to add.....
This will also prevent us from using bull breeds while hog hunting,  as if this passes....all bull and bull breed crosses wil have to be muzzled when "in public." Theyre including American Bulldogs in this bill as well!

So I emailed our state's dog hunting association asking for support and to spread the word. Im really dissapointed with the response I got. We need to stick together....not be divided!
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Breed spacific b ills make as much sense as saying one race of humans is responsible  for the majority of crimes, so that raceshouldnt be allowed in our state. It all. BOils down to individual responsability, if you cause a problem, u should pay, if your dog causes a problem, u are response able, not every other dog owner. This is just more busy body, get I.N Your business, left wing no gooder-ism ,, these people won't  ever be happy till they control every aspect of yourlife

Thank u for ur response ms LA. That was very well written. I posted the link on the ms dog hunters FB page. I don't think they even acknowledged it. Looks like u may have some fuel for a fire at the next meeting. Any anti dog laws affect us all. Being to blind to see it is stupid.


Shotgun
Arkansas

I got my first response from one of the reps. Mr. Lester Carpenter.
He said "I support you 100%" and then attached a video clip of a bulldog on a caught hog being stuck.

Feels good  that my voice was heard by at least one of them. I may be mistaken but I think theyre supposed to be voting on it this evening.......

Mrs.la could you provide an email address where i / we could voice some opinions in the right direction. I know i know i should already know where to send such messages but i dont. Everybody we need to stand up and do something before we were wishing we did. I feel its getting down to the wire !

Sounds to me like a violation of your 4th amendment right

Good news yall!
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Well thats real good news. !!!

that is great news...

MRS. LA...that was well written and hopefully that will get folks to thinking about what the anti's are trying to do to us...If that law would have passed then law enforcement would just about go in our yards most anytime they wanted if we owned dogs...all they have to say is that they thought it was a dangerous bully breed...and it is also pretty lame to think that a bull breed would be dangerous out in the woods...I have never heard of a catch dog biting someone in the woods intentionally...I believe that if a bull breed is vicious towards humans they just need to be put down...it is like you mentioned...it is not the dogs that are the problem...it is the owner for allowing their dog to act that way...

the reasoning behind that law was pretty weak but believe me they will continue to impose their will on us who do not agree with their ignorant illogical reasoning's...we must police ourselves so that we will not give them any ammunition...

While I know that represenetive says the bill is dead but until I saw further proof I would not believe him. I know huffington post picked up the story of the bill and it went national.

Keep  ur friends close and ur enemies closer.


Shotgun
Arkansas

Thanks guys.......thanks Reuben!
Shotgun.....I will be watching like a hawk lol.....its a never ending battle! Ill be ready for the next one.
I am so dissapointed with the response I got from the VP of my states hunting dog association.
Instead of wanting to fight it entirely, he only asked that "hunting dogs" be exempt. And just how would that be enforced?
*sigh* Im going to write him back in detail.....but man was I close to canceling my membership with them today.
I think some folks just dont understand.

U can't fix a dog hunters association if ur not a member. Get in their butts. Make it public. If they won't get right vote their butts out. Simply leaving only lets the status quo remain. 


Shotgun
Arkansas

do a google search for your state reps, congressmen and senators for your state. and I'm willing to bet your local phone book will give you the names contact info for those elected individuals in you area. or you can look up your state's .gov site and it tell you who is your elected officials, and then it will break it down by districts. there is a lot of info on the www search engines.

Don't this this is the end of it, they will keep on trying. Miami Florida banned pitbulls.

Oh yeah. At least now FL has the law in place that they cannot pass anymore BSL other than where it already exists which is Miami/Dade.

Pitbulls are banned in my town of gardendale al,, they said it was to ward off lawsuits,, following that line of thinking, then you'd ban all firearms cause someone mite get shot, totally asinine. It seems like these folks are totally incapable of dealing with individuals who are the problem, so instead, they pass blanket legislatiin that affects the GOOD along with the bad,

Yes. Irresponsible piece of crap dog owners own various breeds. Its irresponsible ownership that is the cause of dogs being a nuisance......not the dogs themselves. So lets crack down on the owners and rules they must abide by and be penalized for if broken regardless of what breed their dog is. Banning one type of dog solves nothing.

Just saw a video on FB of a representative announcing that the bill would die in committee next week because of the public reaction to the bill and not having enough time to make the necessary changes. Good news for now.

Breed specific banning is like arresting the store owner where the bank robber spent his money. The store owner had nothing to do with the bank robbery and therefore should not be punished. Hell if they're going to ban dangerous animals they need to ban Chihuahuas. Ive been eat up by one of those suckers. True story!  If he weighed a few more pounds i would have been in bad shape..lol..i think everyone here is right. If a person has a dangerous animal in there possession and chooses not to have it responsibly controlled then they should face criminal punishment when and if something ever happens. The only bull breed dogs that the world is exposed to (by the media) are the bad ones. Theres usually a bad apple in every bushel. Just get rid of it and enjoy the good ones. And dont plant those seeds. And i wander why they never show the golden retriever attack or the cocker spaniel bit the kid or what ever else breed on the news. At least in my area its always strictly pit bull "attacks"..