I'm not denying that there are increased risks of owning a pit bull because of many factors, breed included, but increased risk does not mean causality. These lines of thinking are like saying ice cream consumption increases when Americans wear swimsuits, therefore swimsuits make you eat ice cream. No. That's not how statistics work.

Regardless, I stand by my point that someone should not be deterred from owning a pit bull because of it's breed alone. This should be assessed on an individual dog and owner basis, and all factors should be taken into account.

The statistics don't show causality to my knowledge. Breeds have a selection bias, for example, some people who like having pit bulls (whatever you define those as since it's not really a breed) may also be the type to abuse them or train them to attack/guard because that's why they selected the breed, leading to higher-than-normal fatalities and dog attacks than other breeds. That's not a breed problem, that's an owner/breeder/human problem. The statistics that prove causality are inconclusive at best. There are many perfectly sweet pit bulls and many perfectly dangerous dogs that are not pit bulls. If one is looking for a dog, you have to look at the dog's history and present behavior, not the breed, if you want to find a dog that fits your goals, with some leeway of breed type to match your lifestyle. Don't let the breed dissuade you completely from finding a good fit.

Now, that's not to say that certain breeds don't have tendencies because of their breed type (herder, retriever, hound, etc.) There was a recent study showing, yes, generally speaking, a breed within a category will have these tendencies from the blood line as a breed group, but attacks, cuddling, barking, etc. within the breed varies widely and will not tell you the personality and temperament of the dog itself. It's dependent on the dog and experience(s) with breeders and owners. This suggests that these "pit bulls" should be assessed individually and take into account lifestyle factors from the breed categories.

Pit bulls usually aren't the problem, it's the lack of attention, guidance, and love that makes any dog misbehave.