Charles, Virginia has a very well-written dangerous dog law. Should a dog threaten you, you have recourse to require the owner to keep it in a locked, covered pen. The owner is required to have a large insurance policy to keep the animal. It cannot be out of the pen except to go to the vet and it MUST be muzzled and leashed at all times.
You do not have guaranteed protection, no. That said, you do not have a guarantee that some human predator won’t murder you or your family members either.
Did your neighbor report the deadly attack on her pet? It’s important she do so, because then the owner of the pit bull will be required to either contain the animal as outlined above, or the state will make sure it’s destroyed.
Not much in life is guaranteed. Someone could throw a coconut at me, and kill me. But as far as risks go, I’m really quite certain that the risk of a person throwing a coconut at me is nowhere near as great as my children being killed by a pit bull.
I know people want to change the argument, to make this about something different. I’m trying to stay focused on the rediculous claim that people shouldn’t be afraid of pit bulls because “they are more likely to be killed by coconuts”. It was a stupid argument, and every reply to me has pretty much proven that it was a stupid argument.