New York State Rep. Kirwin wants to ban big mean dogs for drug offenders
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 10:14 pm | By: Radical Russ
Bills
BILL NUMBER: A3539TITLE OF BILL : An act to amend the penal law, in relation to restricting ownership of vicious dogs
PURPOSE : To prohibit those convicted of a felony crime related to selling or possessing a controlled substance from owning or possessing a vicious dog.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS : Section 1: Adds a new Penal Law section 270.25 to create a crime of owning or possessing a vicious dog for those persons that have previously been convicted of a felony for selling or possessing a controlled substance. A vicious dog is one that weighs more than 20 pounds and has either been trained to physically attack persons or has exhibited a vicious disposition or propensity. The unlawful possession of a vicious dog is a class A misdemeanor.
EXISTING LAW : There is no crime now for possessing a vicious dog for drug dealers that use such dogs as weapons in the perpetration of the sale or possession of controlled substances.
JUSTIFICATION : The Penal Law prohibits convicted felons from possessing guns, knives and other dangerous instrumentalities. Since attack dogs are used commonly by drug dealers in the place of guns in the pursuit of their drug trade, the possession of these live “weapons” in place of a gun should also be criminalized. In addition, the police would be protected when arresting recidivist drug dealers. The law would also protect the general public from these dangerous animals.
You know what else we should do? Make it a class A misdemeanor for these guys to take any martial arts classes or lift weights. Fist fights are another way these drug dealers pursue their drug trade, right? Police would be protected, too, since they could easily arrest such 98-lb weaklings.
This is yet another stupid salvo in the War on Drugs. This is obviously aimed at pit bulls and rottweilers, and not so subtly at inner-city minorities, who tend to own those dogs, mainly for security and protection in the under-policed areas of poverty in which they live. So now the ex-con who had the misfortune to be caught growing a marijuana garden, who can’t protect himself in his home with any wort of weapon, now can’t even have a trusty guard dog.
I guess they’ll have to get a nice poisonous snake for a pet… they’re still legal, right?
