For more than 20 years Junction City has had a pit bull ban in place. Two years ago, a woman named Emily Fawcett began pushing for it to be lifted. As of February 18th, the ban has been lifted. It has some exceptions though. Pit bulls must be microchipped, spayed/neutered, can only have a maximum of 2 pit bulls in the dwelling. The ban was lifted with a 3 to 2 vote. Commissioners Ronna Larson, Nate Butler, and Vice Mayor Pat Landes voted in favor of lifting the ban and Mayor Underhill and Commissioner Tim Brown voted nay on lifting the ban. One of the commissioners who voted no requested that the police monitor dog attacks and their breeds going forward. The mayor agreed to it.

According to Dogbites.org in 2018 Pitbull (fatal), bites were the top number and was in the lead by a lot. 72%(26) of them being from Pitbulls. Other fatal dog bites include mixed breeds(8%), Rottweiler(6%), Mastiff/Bullmastiff(6%), Dogo Argentino(6%), and other (3%). Pitbulls are unpredictable and sporadic. Their gameness (aka their refusal to give up a fight) causes them to have dangerous and sometimes fatal habits.  According to tests done by scientists, they found that the aggression within pit bulls is, in fact, genetic. It is in their DNA and apart of their nature.

People hope this brings residents back to JC, now that they can own their Pitbulls without fear of getting them taken away or euthanized. People used to move from JC to towns where they were Pitbull friendly because their dogs are like family and they can’t just get rid of them. They’re also happy the ban is lifted because the shelters will no longer be flooded with dogs that no one is allowed to own. Dogs deserve to be loved and no dog should be sitting in shelters, alone and sad.  Junction City, KS has lifted their decades-old ban on the specific breed of Pitbulls which now allows more people to move here with their dogs and can cause less split up between families.