More than 86% of fatal dog attacks are done by this kind of dog:

[OwnedByCats]

74. Sorry, you got a better chance of dying

from lightening than a pit bull. It's still incredibly rare given how many are estimated to inhabit the country. In 2012 there were 21 or 22 people who died from a pit bull, a pit bull type, which means it may have been a pit bull or a mix, but also maybe not a pit bull at all- but nobody really knows. I've seen dogs misidentified as pit bulls, so it does happen.

So not to make light of those people dying, but the mass hysteria is beyond ridiculous. If "pit bulls" were as dangerous as some here make out that they are - there would be not double digit deaths, there would be deaths in the 5 or 6 figure range per year. The number is a drop in the bucket compared to our human and pit bull population. While there are things we should do to drop that number even more, some perspective is in order here.

Talk to actual people who have experience with large numbers of them and you'll find a completely different attitude. I've yet to meet or hear of those experienced with rescuing them, vets who treat them, people who work in kennels and shelters, along with people who have owned a number of them say they are horrible vicious dogs. These people would know. You should not judge a whole breed on the actions of what amounts to a very very small percentage. Dogs that never hurt a flea much less a person are being unfairly judged by people who have no clue what they're talking about.

Take any medium or large dog, train then to be aggressive, give them no socialization skills whatsoever, abuse them in other ways and fail to neuter that dog - that's a recipe for disaster with ANY dog strong enough to maim or kill a person. It used to be Dobermans, Rottweilers and German Shepherds that were maligned in this way. That was all bs too.

It's the thugs ruining this breed's reputation and everyone wants to blame the dogs. The dogs don't know any better, people however should.