I met regular sized american bully while on a walk this evening, first time seeing one in person. Looks and behaves like any bully breed, a 3 year old in a muscle suit that could crush bricks. Definitely needs proper training by an owner but I wouldn't say it's that different from English bullterrier.

Bad rep for those dogs is mostly the looks. I own a bullterrier who made some people nervous / scared despite being a dumb but well behaved goofball. This changed almost immediately after one of his ears flopped due to a blood clot. I often joke that he lost all of the street cred and gets no respect.

Four dog breeds are banned in the UK - the Pit bull terrier, the Japanese tosa, the Dogo Argentino and the Fila Brasileiro

Dogs that share physical characteristics to banned breeds, such as cross-breeds, are also banned

Owning a banned dog can result in an unlimited fine and a prison sentence of up to six months

Times sure have changed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_the_lion

Christian the lion (12 August 1969 – ?) was a lion born in captivity and purchased by Australian John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke from Harrods department store in London in 1969.

Christian was originally acquired by Harrods from the now-defunct zoo park in Ilfracombe. Rendall and Bourke purchased Christian for 250 guineas (£262.10s.[2] in pre-decimal currency).[citation needed]

Rendall and Bourke, [3] along with their friends Jennifer Mary Taylor and Unity Jones, cared for the lion where they lived in London until he was a year old. As he got larger, the men moved Christian to their furniture store—coincidentally named Sophistocat—where living quarters in the basement were set aside for him. Rendall and Bourke obtained permission from a local minister to exercise Christian at the Moravian church graveyard just off the King's Road and Milman's Street, SW10; and the men also took the lion on day trips to the seaside.

If I want to buy a weapon, even for target practice, I need a license that is pretty hard to obtain. Why don't we do the same with dog breeds that are known to maim children disproportionately to other types of dogs?

If you really are a great dog owner and your dog is really as friendly as you say, you wouldn't mind having both of you tested once a year in order to prevent bad owners from spoiling the image of that breed.

Shelters are full of harmless dogs that need a home. It's beyond me why don't people feel the need to buy dogs that can potentially kill/seriously harm other dogs and even humans (including children)

The dog breed looks like a small Pit Bull on Steroids. It legitimately looks like someone gave a dog muscle enhancers

Treat dogs like guns. People need to get a license (unless it's in a rural area I guess) to own one and demonstrate that they would be good dog owners, and provide evidence of training or dog gets confiscated.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is seeking "urgent advice" on banning "lethal" American bully XL dogs.

The prime minister's spokesman described the Birmingham footage as "shocking", said the government took the issue "extremely seriously" and added that the law on dangerous dogs had been "toughened" in 2020.

Emma Whitfield, whose 10-year-old son Jack Lis was mauled to death in Caerphilly, Wales, in 2021, questioned why it had "taken this video and not a child's life to do something?"

The American bully XL is not subject to any legal restrictions in the UK but advice on a ban was commissioned last week, an adviser said.

But Barry Gardiner, Labour MP and member of the Common's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA), told BBC News he did not think it was right to ban the breed, saying it was about controlling owners.

If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk.

The original article contains 1,053 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 83%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

She's an absolute scumbag, but yes, certain dog breeds that only exist to be violent, such as Rottweilers, should simply be ended. That's pretty obvious, I would have thought.

But.... Violent people don't care about the safety of others, and don't see a problem with abusing dogs to get what they want out of them either.

We need c/banpitbulls.