What is the difference between a gun and a dog? In the hands of violent felons, some lawmakers say both are dangerous weapons.
Wisconsin legislators have proposed a bill that would prevent violent felons from owning dogs.
The Green Bay police department first reached out to legislators to introduce the bill five years ago after a similar bill passed in Michigan. The police department found that an increasing number of felons had vicious dogs that they used to intimidate parole agents and unarmed individuals, said Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, a co-sponsor of the bill.
If the law, written by Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, passes, it would only apply to felons convicted of crimes against life and bodily security which includes first degree homicide, mutilating or hiding a corpse, battery or threat of battery, felony murder and homicide resulting from handling a dangerous weapon, explosive or fire, Hansen said.
“These aren’t people who write bad checks, or other types of felonies, these are people who are convicted of very serious violent crimes,” Hansen said.
According to the bill, a dog would be considered dangerous if it attacked a person without justification, or behaved in a manner that posed a significant, imminent threat without justification.
Sharon Hensen, senior humane animal control officer for Green Bay Police Department, said a dog trained to be vicious may be more dangerous than any other weapon a felon may have since they act independently of their owner and may actively seek to harm someone because they feel they are protecting their owner.
“If you have a convicted felon and he can’t own a gun [for the rest of his life] but you allow him to own an animal that he has raised to be so dangerous, what’s the difference?” Hensen said.
The bill is purposefully not breed-specific, because any dog can be trained to be dangerous, Hensen said. However, those with poor intentions will oftentimes purchase European dog breeds such as Perro de Presa Canarios, Cane Corsos and Dogo Argentinos which were traditionally used for guarding and war. This makes them more protective by nature, Hensen said.
To turn a dog into an intimidation weapon, owners prevent their dog from socializing with any other dogs or humans, she said. They don’t take their dog on walks and when people come over they put their dog away. This causes them to become hyper-protective of their owner, whom they perceive to be the only other member of the pack.
“Dogs need companionship, so if they are taken away from having a pack and they are only given one person who is their leader, then they become suspicious of everything else,” Hensen said.
Since Michigan passed a similar bill five years ago, several states surrounding Wisconsin have passed similar legislation including Iowa and Illinois.
Although Hensen has been working on getting the bill passed for the past five years, she said she feels optimistic about its chances this session.
“I’m trying to get it through before someone ends up dying,” Hensen said.
