Best comment over at the News Observer:
When are we going to close the dog show loophole?
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up as yet another politician has decided that “he’s gotta do something” and ends up with a law that says “Subject Citizen, you must again ask for permission to do that”!
Rodney Moore, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County…introduced a bill [House Bill 956] Tuesday that would require anyone taking ownership of the much-maligned dogs [pit bulls] to submit to a criminal background check. The proposal also targets Rottweilers, mastiffs, chows, Perro de Presa Canarios and any “wolf hybrids.”
“I did this for a constituent,” Moore said Thursday. “It was not to vilify a breed. The reason I put background checks in was I didn’t want irresponsible people to use these types of animals illegally.”
So, what was he (and the Republican who was the co-sponsor) ?
- submit to a criminal background check
- mandatory enrollment in a four-hour course provided by the Humane Society or another rescue organization approved by the state Department of Insurance to learn “responsible” dog management of these breeds and be “good” owners
- tell your insurance company “Hey, I have a new Fido” (and accept the rate increase (I assume that word “quietly” is in there somewhere in “signing the check”)
- your Police Chief “may” issue you a permit to own “Fido”
- pay for a special state permit
Yes, I know that these breeds are the favorite of those who, well, have a reputation (or other things) and I do see the reports of the aggressive behavior (like former astronaut and gun controller Mark Kelly’s family dog killing a baby seal). But really, a criminal background check? When is enough meddling too much? When will WE starting telling politicians of this type of micro-tyrannical persuasion “enough”? In reading more on this, I do see that ordinary folks said “BUTT OUT!”, but when or how do we “perfect” our politicians to mind their own business? A “good owner”?
Patrick over at Popehat has a few words on this (emphasis mine):
And second, because I would never obey Rodney Moore’s command that I submit to a criminal background check and enroll in a four hour course sponsored by the Humane Society on responsible ownership of pit bulls, rottweilers, mastiffs, chows, and similar “aggressive dog breeds.”
Three hundred and fifty years ago, King Charles II granted the charter that led to the founding of North Carolina. And for all three hundred and fifty of those years, North Carolinians have enjoyed the fundamental liberty of owning whatever damned breed of dog they please, without submitting to a criminal background check.
During that time, North Carolina has suffered the oppressions of King George III. North Carolina has endured invasion by Sherman, and military rule by occupying federal troops. North Carolina has been terrrorized by the Ku Klux Klan. North Carolina has been attacked by the dreaded U-Boats of Adolf Hitler.
But neither King George III, nor Sherman, nor any military governor, nor even the Ku Klux Klan and Adolf Hitler ever presumed to require a North Carolinian to submit to a criminal background check to own a dog. Without having to sit through a four hour class.
(H/T: Overlawyered)
