I know this is about the tenth time I've said this, but the staffie that attacked the Mrs and our dog was a well trained family pet, and was not owned by some nefarious type. The failure mode was the dog escaped the house and found itself alone outside the front of it's house and saw the first thing that was walking by (The Mrs) as a threat and went nuclear and launched itself at the Mrs, catching her hand and cutting that, when our Dog went to defend her, it latched on to him and dragged him like a rag doll down the side of a house..
The police said the dog was responsibly owned and posed no threat to the family and immediately returned it to them.. the 4 blokes that came out to help when the Mrs was screaming couldn't get it to release for 10 minutes, luckily it had clamped on our dogs leg/paw so the ten minute clamp didn't kill it..
I've provided evidence that shows staffies are problematic, and banned/heavily restricted in other countries (Germany/Switzerland/Spain/Ireland).., and put the obvious argument forward that a dog is great until it goes wrong.. and sadly in the case of a staffie, it's literally designed that when it goes wrong it's insanely formidable and efficient at killing.. And even a well behaved and loving family pet can find itself in a situation that it feels threatened and may 'go wrong'.. but I'd take my chances with a yorkshire terrier.. it may bite and be a yappy little pile of fur, but I could dispatch it very very easily if it got ideas.
This is why I think a ban on the breed such that breeding/buying one after a certain date is illegal works best.. no one wants a current family pet destroyed.
I have genuine empathy for the situation your wife and your dog found themselves in, but it's precisely because of that (understandably) that you're always going to have a negative opinion of Staffies. My dog and I were attacked by what looked like a German Shepard / Husky Cross afew years ago and I had to pick my dog up and kick that dog until it's owner finally got a hold of it, fortunately it was so focussed on my dog that it didn't bite me, but it scratched the hell out of my legs and side. I then had trouble with the bell walking the dog because of course, I shouldn't have touched his dog. It wasn't much fun, my dog is a Jack Russell Cross so his reaction to being attacked didn't really help!
I don't blame the breed for this, I blame the waste of oxygen that was walking it. My complaints ended up with the dog being muzzled, so something good came of it.
Granted, the Staffie you mention escaped and then did what it did, but that to me suggests the dog wasn't as well trained as they said it was, and if it's reaction to being on it's own is to turn aggressive, it wasn't suitably kept to ensure it wouldn't get out. What I find strange is that your wife was bitten by a perceived problem breed, but the police didn't follow up on that? How long ago was this?
I do understand where you are coming from but... (and not knowing what breed your dog is, if it's tiny this doesn't really count), what if your dog escaped the front, panicked, and latched on to a child walking past? Should all dogs of your breed then be banned because they might attack a child?
I see it as an accident that has come about due to negligence.
It sucks that people get hurt by animals, vehicles, hobbies (insert thing to get hurt by here). But if you start protecting everyone from everything, where does it stop? The family who owned that Staff should have had consequences for allowing their dog to escape, if my dog got out and attacked someone I'd certainly expect to be held accountable because it's my negligence that allowed the dog to escape.
I do believe in licensing strong breeds that become status dogs though, they attract totally the wrong sort of people into owning them.
Sorry if that's a bit rambly.
