Hard Cases = Bad Law

Veronica Lynch, mother of Kelly Lynch who was mauled to death by two Rottweilers in Scotland, has been hauled out by the 'Daily Express' in a bid to wrest away the crown of 'Most Opportunistic Chip Wrapping' in the UK:

Everytime a child dies like this I feel sick to the pit of my stomach. It is as if it is happening to Kelly again. I will be writing to Gordon Brown asking what his plans are because he cannot ignore this problem any longer. His Government has just not done enough.

These deaths can be prevented but not until the Government wakes up and changes the law. Dogs and their owners should be strictly regulated by the authorities.

Oh, you can see what's coming, can't you?

All owners and their dogs should be put on a national register so they would have to go through a licensing process and not everyone would be granted a licence if they were unsuitable to keep one of these animals.

Then they would be subjected to annual checks to see if their circumstances are changed, if there had been any incidents or if there was any breeding going on.

I even believe there should be a limit to how many dogs one person can keep. It must be extremely difficult to keep control of one powerful dog, let alone two.

All dogs? Mrs Doyle's chihuahua is to be registered along with Wayne 'Stabby' McChav's pedigree Pit Bull/Alligator cross? In what world does that make any sense?

And how are we supposed to pay for this, given that Gordoom has bankrupted the country? It isn't just the register itself, it's the salary and IT and accommodation for the thousands of civil servants needed to check on the estimated 22% of the population that own a dog...

The Government managed to introduce the smoking ban, which no one thought would work but look at how easily that was put into place.

/headdesk

I know a national register would upset a lot of dog owners but it’s the only way. Besides, responsible owners have nothing to fear.

Ah, heard that one before...

I’m not anti-dog, I’ve owned dogs all my life but there are certain breeds that are too unpredictable and too powerful to be allowed without tight regulation. If it is done right then powerful dogs would never end up in the wrong hands.

Yup. The gun laws after Dunblane made sure that handguns never ended up in the wro...

Ah. Right.

I spent a lot of my life campaigning to get the laws changed after Kelly’s awful death. The Dangerous Dogs Act came about on the back of this but it was so disappointing because it didn’t include breeds like Staffordshire Bull terriers.

Staffordshires are billed as being good with children but if that is true why are there so many that attack youngsters and end up maiming or killing them?

I know, it's a complete mystery, isn't it?

I mean, it's like the way BMW boast of their car's amazing road-holding capability, yet stiil each year, some of them leave the road and hit trees and brick walls! What's up with that?

Could it be there are other factors at work, and that they are the problem?

All we need now to complete this mishmash of control freakery, mawkish 'Do it for the chilldreeen!' sentimentality and selfishness is a nice conspiracy theory.

And right on cue:

Campaigning was cathartic but it was also extremely difficult on a personal level. Nothing could bring Kelly back. There is a powerful dog lobby: it’s a big-money business and they will defend their breeds extremely robustly.

Well, it could have been the Jews behind it, I suppose. That's the usual 'shadowy powerhungry group' of desperation...

People need to be constantly reminded that we have a duty to protect our children and it is a duty in which we are failing.

No. People do not, and people are not. Individuals may well be.

How about we approach the problem by focussing on them, for a change?

But no. With the parlous straits the Labour Party now find themselves in, I can see some clown tabling a bill before long, in the desperate hope of winning the votes of the 'out of their minds with grief' voting bloc...