The repeal of the ban on pit bull dogs in Kansas City, Kansas, is on the agenda for the 5 p.m. Monday, May 20, Unified Government Public Works and Safety Committee meeting. According to the agenda, the ordinance repealing the pit bull ban is sponsored by Commissioners Melissa Bynum and Jane Philbrook.
Currently, anyone with a pit bull in the city could be fined $300 to $1,000, and could be sentenced to as much as 90 days in jail, according to the ordinance now in effect.
Kansas City, Kansas, put a pit bull ban into effect in 1988.
At the last effort to repeal the pit bull ban, an incident in July 2006 was cited by those who wanted to keep the ban in place. Jimmie Mae McConnell was mauled by a dog from next door while she was working in her garden in her own yard in Kansas City, Kansas. She died after the attack. The UG heard a proposal to remove the pit bull ban in November 2014, and it was approved at the committee level but not at the commission. The issue generated a lot of interest, with the meeting room packed with people. The commission needed 6 votes to pass a repeal, but the vote tied 4-4 and the repeal died. Two of the four commissioners who voted against a repeal in 2014 are no longer on the commission.
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