Back in July 2009 when then-President Obama proclaimed the Cambridge Police “acted stupidly” when they arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. outside of his Massachusetts home on grounds of disorderly conduct after a neighbor had called 911 claiming they saw someone (who as it turns out was Gates) trying to break into Gates’s home, the remark stuck with me.

Not because Obama was right (he wasn’t) but because it describes so many situations where politicians on either side of the aisle and other prominent public figures make an already volatile situation so much worse due to ignorance, whether it be the willful kind or the genuine variety.

Sadly for the residents of Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) frequently acts stupidly in responses to the crises (some of them self-inflicted) that erupt in her city, as we’ve documented extensively here.

The latest instance of Lightfoot engaging in this unfortunate behavior came just this week, when in response to the smash and grab looting spree and violent crime wave that is plaguing the city she’s charged with running, she in part took a dangerous “blame the victim” approach, insinuating that retail store owners were partly at fault for what was happening to them:

“I’m disappointed that they’re not doing more to take safety and make it a priority,” she said. “For example, we still have retailers that won’t institute measures like having security officers in their stores, making sure that they’ve got cameras that are actually operational.”

Watch:

If you own a business in downtown Chicago ⁦⁦@chicagosmayor⁩ says you should do more to protect your store.

Then why pay such high property taxes? ⁦@MorningAnswer⁩ pic.twitter.com/jlTWSMv4t7

— Amy Jacobson (@AmyJacobson) December 6, 2021

With the thought in mind that most of the stores that are being looted by smash and grabbers in Democrat-run cities and states are the big department stores like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom’s, the likelihood is that they already have security guards in place and cameras that operate as they should. Let’s assume for purposes of discussion that that is the case.

Short of having an army of armed security guards lined up in front of those stores – which is not going to happen because it would likely deter shoppers in a big way, what’s going to stop the mobs of smash and grabbers from overpowering a security guard(s) posted in front of or in the store and getting into them to grab the merchandise? Nothing.

In fact, we saw two situations in California recently where one security guard at a mall store was assaulted and in another case, private security guard and former police officer Kevin Nishita, who was protecting a news crew filming from the site of a previous smash and grab in downtown Oakland, was shot and killed.

Plus, look at this video evidence of how mobs of people who apparently have nothing better to do will bum rush innocent people for no apparent reason and commence with beating the hell out of them:

WATCH: Chicago police forced to cancel scheduled days off to deal with ongoing crime after a bus driver was beaten.

Transit Authority president speaks out: “my drivers are furious. They are beyond scared, they are upset they are sitting ducks in that seat.” pic.twitter.com/vATBYtnDnr

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 7, 2021

Do you think security guards, even the armed ones, want to get in the middle of that? I don’t think so. If we were talking one on one situations here, they probably would – depending on the situation, but we aren’t talking about one on ones. We’re talking about scores of people converging on these stores and smashing and grabbing what they can.

And then there are the stores that aren’t part of chains that are getting broken into by these looters. What if they can’t afford an around-the-clock security presence? Because crushing mandates put in place during the pandemic by the likes of Lightfoot and other dictatorial Democrats have hurt the bottom lines of many small businesses, the likelihood of them being able to put the type of security and camera systems in place – smaller-scale versions of them – like the ones you see in the big-name stores is slim to none.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think a better approach from Lightfoot would be to not shame business owners here. Encouraging them to get cameras and security guards is one thing, but stating you are “disappointed” is unhelpful and will only spark further resentment from business owners who don’t appreciate being blamed for the crimes committed in their stores.

Instead, Lightfoot should focus primarily on working with law enforcement and prosecutors to make sure these perps get caught and are not immediately released which in many cases would lead to them striking again. That would be a big help – that and maybe not trying to force vaccine mandates on police officers and denigrating their service in an effort to score cool points with the Woke Mafia.

But all of that would involve Lightfoot acting responsibly on behalf of the residents of her city instead of stupidly, and as history has shown us, acting responsibly is just not something Lightfoot does very well. Like at all.

Flashback: Lori Lightfoot’s Racist Interview Policy Backfires in the Most Hilarious and Deserving Way Possible