Photo by yospyn

After a recent court ruling, Maryland residents that own a pitbull faced increased liability for any attacks—the dogs were deemed “inherently dangerous” by the court, meaning that even a first bite could result in costly lawsuits. But now Maryland legislators are thinking of applying the same standard to all dogs, reports the Washington Times.

A 10-member taskforce created in the wake of the controversial ruling has floated the idea as a means to bring parity back to dog-owning in Maryland. After the court’s decision, animal rights advocates argued that it unfairly targeted pitbulls, and that how a dog is raised is more important than its breed in determining whether it is a danger to people:

One option they discussed Tuesday was to get rid of the one-bite law and hold all owners liable from the first violent incident — a move that many lawmakers and activists said would put pit bulls back on equal footing with other breeds and force all dog owners to be more responsible.

“I do get a feeling that a consensus is building around an approach that would be assuring strict liability,” said Delegate Heather R. Mizeur, Montgomery Democrat and task force member. “We’re trying to strike the right balance here between trying to protect [attack victims] and wanting to remedy the problem that was created by the court ruling.”

Some insist that pitbulls are naturally aggressive and need to be treated differently, noting that they are involved in more fatal attacks than other breeds. According to a Centers for Disease Control report cited by the court, pit bulls were responsible for 66 of the 238 dog bite-related fatalities across the country between 1979 and 1996; DogsBite.org reports that pit bulls were responsible for 71 percent of the 31 fatal dog attacks that took place in 2011.

In D.C., any dog, regardless of its breed, is deemed a “dangerous dog” after a first attack on a human. After that, the owner can be found liable for any further attacks.