The dangerous dogs defenders lobby is huge, connected and completely irrational. Kim Bartlett is the publisher of the highly-respected Animal People News http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/.
ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett sought middle ground at
the 2002 Conference on Homeless Animal Management and Policy in
Hartford, Connecticut.
"I believe that pitbulls have a more negative reputation than
most members of the breed deserve," she wrote afterward. "Because I
feel very sorry for these dogs and also felt that pitbull rescuers
deserved a forum, I put together a panel on pit bulls. It was meant
to be balanced, so people with more conservative views on pitbulls
were on the panel as well as those who had extreme views. The
result: the pitbull rescuers insulted the people--animal rescuers
all--who had any reservations about the breed whatever. I expressed
mixed feelings about pit bulls, and so was labelled 'enemy.' Mind
you, no one on the panel, and certainly not me as the panel
moderator, favored arbitrarily killing pit bulls.
"I have an uneasy feeling that a lot of people claiming to be
pitbull rescuers are pitbull breeders," Bartlett continued.
"Otherwise why would they oppose breeding bans that would not affect
dogs already born? I think it is unethical to breed any dogs, or
cats, so long as they are being killed for population control. I
would rather dogs, as well as cats and other animals, were not bred
at all for human purposes. Since pit bulls clearly can be more
dangerous to humans and other animals, and are more difficult to
handle than most other dogs, and--most importantly--since they
attract 'owners' who only want to exploit and abuse them, then for
the dogs' own good, why do their purported rescuers not want to see
an end to breeding them?"