Attempts to legislate pit bulls in Texas

A proposed Texas law that would make it a crime for children under 16 to handle or care for pit bull dogs has raised hackles amongst a number of individuals in the state. Such breed-specific legislation is routinely opposed by animal welfare groups, and the proposed law also covers animals with pit bull characteristics, a group of animals which presumably would be difficult to define, according to the Houston Chronicle. However the sponsor, State Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston), says a teen walking a pit bull down the block can be the equivalent of a teen displaying a holstered gun. “It may well never go off. It may never hurt anybody,” Dutton says, “but the potential there is so great that we need to look at it and prevent it.”