Ok, something I am trying to understand. The Pitbull and the American Staffordshire Terrier, pretty much come from the same breeding. The American Staffordshire Terrier is on the banned list in the UK. So why is it any different to own a APBT or a AST? If one is dangerous, then isn't the other breed? Also getting onto crosses, shouldn't the crosses of a Pit Bull be also banned, as it seems to be how many people are getting around things by saying "Oh, mine is a cross, not a pure bred" Well the crosses have to come form somewhere, so aren't some of them coming from Purebreds and therefore aren't you supporting restricted/banned bred by buying the crosses?
I think because American staffordshire terrier's are a recognized pure breed in Australia.
So if you buy one from a registered breeder and can provide pedigree papers, you are safe. Unless your dog is deemed dangerous by the council, but this can happen to any breed.
People have tried to fight BSL in the past by providing DNA results stating a primary or secondary breed of another breed of dog- so 1 parent was a Labrador- this making it unfair to destroy because there are plenty of other Labrador crosses out in the world. Does that make sense?
However, if Your dog HAS bitten a person or an animal and been reported for doing so, I would imagine that the breed won't make much difference.
The cases I have dealt with are more to do with being dobbed in for owning a mixed breed dog that may look like a Pitbull- but has actually not done anything to harm anyone.
I'm trying to think of a case in particular- very well publicized case in Queensland about 3 years ago. If I remember the details, I'll come back to post.