Lori Lightfoot seems to be pathologically incapable of accepting any responsibility for the staggering increase in shootings and homicides in the city of Chicago. For months she’s been blaming the surge in shootings and homicides on “lax gun laws” in the state of Indiana, and now she’s including the state of Mississippi in her blame game. Y’allPolitics.com, a Mississippi-based political blog, reports that Gov. Tate Reeves is giving a big “bless your heart” to Mayor Lightfoot in response to her accusations.

“This ridiculous conspiracy theory from the Chicago mayor—that Mississippians are to blame for the violence in her own city—is bizarre and pathetic,” Governor Reeves said. “No serious person could think that murders are out of control and people are burning police cars in Chicago because of Mississippi’s commitment to the constitution.”

Lightfoot’s excuses about what’s driving the violent crime in Chicago conveniently lets her off the hook for what’s happening in neighborhoods throughout the city. It’s not her fault, it’s that we simply don’t have enough gun laws on the books. That, of course, is nonsense, but it’s the go-to rationale for gun control advocates when they’re asked to explain why their laws aren’t making people any safer.

The mayor has been demanding more federal gun control laws be put in place as well, but there’s very little evidence that sweeping federal legislation would make a difference. After the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, for example, violent crime continued to rise throughout the U.S. for more than two decades before it began declining in 1991. That decline began three years before then-President Bill Clinton signed the 1994 crime bill into effect, which included a ten-year ban on so-called assault weapons and large capacity magazines, and it continued to drop after the ban was allowed to sunset in 2004.

I understand that Lightfoot desperately wants to absolve herself of any responsibility for the out-of-control violence on Chicago streets, but she can’t dodge the fact that stories like this are playing out on a daily basis under her watch.

Chicago police have released surveillance video to track down suspects in the shooting of a 12-year-old son of a Chicago firefighter.

In the minute long surveillance clip you see three men walking around in the 6300-block of South Ellis Avenue. Moments later a man labeled “suspect one” by police opens fire.

Two other men follow, with the group pointing their weapons toward a basketball court and park full of kids who were out playing.

The state of Mississippi isn’t responsible for this shooting. Neither is the state of Indiana. The individuals who pulled the triggers are ultimately the ones to blame here, but it’s up to Mayor Lightfoot, along with police and prosecutors, to ensure that guys like these don’t feel empowered to shoot up their neighborhoods because they know that most of the time they’ll be able to get away with their crimes.

When less than half of all homicides result in an arrest, and about 5% of all non-fatal shootings end up with someone being charged, criminals are rightfully going to believe that they can get away with their crimes. That’s the reality in Chicago at the moment, and until that changes, the increased violence is going to persist. Lori Lightfoot needs to quit blaming the Second Amendment and start focusing on the violent criminals in her city if she has any real desire to make Chicago a safer place.