There are a lot of people who don’t seem to see any cause for violent crime besides guns. It seems these people really believe that if you remove all the firearms from the world, everything goes to some peaceful state–a peaceful state that has never existed in the history of mankind, it should be noted.

It’s a Utopian vision that bears no resemblance to reality at all, so much so that it should qualify as a self-delusion.

And it seems the new governor of New York suffers from it.

 New York Governor Kathy Hochul, responding to the shooting death of a New York City Police Officer and another officer clinging to life in critical condition in the hospital has blamed illegal guns and not criminals for the incident.

“Last night, a shot from an illegal gun took the life of [New York City] officer,” Hochul said. “When I say we’re going to do everything we can to stop the scourge of illegal guns in our state, it’s not just talk. We are tripling funding for efforts to get these guns off the streets.”

Hochul’s tweet about the situation:

Last night, a shot from an illegal gun took the life of a @NYPDnews officer.

When I say we’re going to do everything we can to stop the scourge of illegal guns in our state, it’s not just talk. We are tripling funding for efforts to get these guns off the streets. pic.twitter.com/zXv0xbL4Em

— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) January 22, 2022

Now, look, we need to understand a few things that Hochul doesn’t seem to grasp.

First, yes, guns are coming in from other states. If they weren’t, they’d be coming in from other countries. Anytime there is a demand for a product, whether legal or not, someone is going to meet it. If you ban guns in other states New York is still going to have an issue with armed criminals.

Don’t believe me? Then tell me exactly what states have legal cocaine and heroine that get shipped into New York City?

It should be noted what Hochul isn’t talking about, though.

For one thing, she’s not actually blaming the criminals. It seems they’d have been blameless without the evil influence of firearms. I mean, none of my guns have ever driven me to kill a police officer, but mine are apparently defective or something apparently.

Nor is she noting that over the last couple of years, her party has supported policies that have led to countless violent criminals being ushered back on the streets, often just minutes after their arrest. You don’t suppose that has played any kind of a factor, do you?

Or what about the way Hochul’s party has done everything it can to neuter law enforcement in favor of the criminals that terrorize the streets of cities like New York? While few departments were truly defunded, many stepped back from more proactive efforts that might have prevented this sort of thing out of fear of being the next poster boy or girl for how evil police are.

All of that plays a factor.

Now, I can’t definitively say any one of those was a contributing factor to this officer’s murder, but Hochul can’t say that lawful gun sales anywhere really contributed to it either. We simply don’t know and are having to make broad statements about violent crime and apply them here.

But I’m well past sick and tired of people like Hochul blaming guns when the fault lies in policies they or their party have supported for years now.