This year so far, the most common victim of a fatal dog attack is a child, and her killer is her parents

Housewives have started shooting at the vicious dogs that our animal control agencies (aided by public confusion) have failed to control. In the past month, the news media have reported two such instances. In one, a mother fired a single shot at a pit bull that was mauling her child. In another, a woman shot a pit bull that was killing her dog. (Read the article.)

As the public becomes more fed up at dangerous dogs and their irresponsible owners, and as more people and pets are killed by vicious dogs, we will see more stories like these unless our animal control departments take control of the situation. By far, it is preferable for trained animal control officers to do this job, rather than housewives with guns.

The authorities need to hear a clear message from the public: get rid of the dangerous dogs, the ones that demonstrate viciousness toward people, not by being a member of a breed but by displaying viciousness toward people. That means go find them, take them to the shelter and euthanize them. It does not mean train them, allow them to be adopted, allow them to breed freely. Kill the vicious dogs.

To send this clear message, the public needs to see that the animal control departments have adequate personnel and equipment. Enough officers, enough facilities, enough trucks, enough radios. They are part of law enforcement and they deserve and require the same kind of support. Furthermore, they need to know that we don’t want vicious dogs released, rescued, adopted, re-homed, but killed, not because they are from a breed we might fear but because they have demonstrated viciousness toward people.

We have the right to safe streets. We have the right to defend our lives and our spouses and our children. But when we have to draw our guns to do so, we need to let the authorities know that this is their job, not ours, and that we want them to do it, and will pay what it costs. This means money and clarity of purpose: get the vicious dogs off our streets and kill them, meaning the dogs that have demonstrated violent tendencies against people.

As in the Jennifer Lowe case, here is a video of dogs attacking a police car and

Jose Lopez Gonzalez, 49, and Judith Mendez Lopez, 55, face 7 felony counts each, and bail at $250,000 each, as a result of failing to control 5 oftheir dogs. The dogs attacked a family that was walking in the neighborhood. Among other things, 5-year-old Destiny Colon was injured so badly that she was put on a ventilator in the hospital for days and needed more than 230 stitches. (Read more.)