Sometimes it's not a good idea to take things into your own hands. If bkent had blasted that pit bull, he'd be in a worse scenario than he is now. The gun is for self defense purposes. Obviously if it came down to losing his dog, and he had to shoot the pit to get him off, you do what you have to.
Letting the cops or animal control deal with it is much safer/smarter. And they'll put the dog down if it comes down to it, I've got no problem with that.
The whole people biter status is true, my aunt, one time was messing with my old dog (dead now). Picking her up (lap dog) and stuff...it was raining and thundering bad outside...I warned her the dog gets nervous when it thunders but she didn't listen and put her down, so the dog got pissed and bit her nose. Numnuts went to the doctor and told them a dog bit her, they asked for info, she gave it, and we had people calling our house to let us know the dog was on record. Stupidity at it's finest. If you do have to go to a doctor over a bite, say it was a stray!
