I understand where you’re coming from - I really do. Even the most ill-tempered and pissed off dachshund isn’t likely to kill someone simply because they don’t have the size and body type.
But you sort of illustrate my point about owner behavior. An owner should respect the breed, understand its capabilities, and train it accordingly. It sounds like the dog had little to no training before you and your brother came along.
I’d be willing to hazard a guess that the previous owner probably thought it was “cute” to see him chase the cat when he was a pup and didn’t try to correct the behavior before the dog got big enough to be a real threat. (I had an uncle who was like that - I took my mom telling him to either leave his dog at home or learn to control it or she would shoot it the next time it went after our cat. And no, she wasn’t kidding.)
But just because something is potentially dangerous doesn’t mean that it’s inherently dangerous. We shouldn’t be preemptively punishing everyone for an irresponsible few.
You make some good points.