My neighbor has two, while I don't particularly like the breed, I don't care that he has them. The only time I see them around is when I am grilling steak, like most dogs they want a piece of the action! I grill some sausage at the same time, Its cheap and the dogs like it.
This is called "Classical Conditioning", as in the famous Pavlov's Dogs experiment. You're training dogs to expect a treat when they smell a steak on a grill. I really hope they don't expect a sausage in my back yard and get PO'ed when they don't get one... and I hope it doesn't happen to any of your neighbors, either.
And as far as comparing dogs and guns, nobody ever had to chase their gun down the street to keep it from doing something on its own.
Just My .02
