Zohran Mamdani: “VioIence is an Artificial Construction”

New York City’s Democratic voters chose Zohran Mamdani as their nominee. It says a lot about how bad Mamdani is, though, that a lot of people thought the allegedly handsy former governor of New York, who left office in disgrace, was a better option, but the voters have spoken.

While it’s entirely possible someone else will prevail in the general election, the odds are good that Mamdani will win based on current polling.

There’s a lot for me to dislike about Mamdani, including his previous call to ban all guns, but a lot of New Yorkers aren’t going to disagree with that on any level, unfortunately, and since I can’t vote against him, my own feelings are irrelevant.

But there’s a reason everyone in the Big Apple should be concerned, and that’s just how soft on crime he’s shaping up to be.

For example, he says that violence is an artificial construct.

Zohran Mamdani on why he wants to empty jails: “VioIence is an artificial construct” pic.twitter.com/N4G7jSmEDX

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 26, 2025

Now, I get that he’s claiming that non-violent crimes are being prosecuted as acts of violence, even when they’re not, but I’m rather skeptical of that claim without some hard evidence backing it up. [Editor’s Note: New York actually prosecutes gun possession without a permit as a violent crime, so there is some evidence that’s the case – Cam]

Breaking into a business that has an attached but separate dwelling isn’t likely to be viewed as the same as breaking into a home in court. I seriously doubt a prosecutor would even try it.

Of course, sometimes horrible things happen. Vile people do vile things, even if they work in a prosecutor’s office or with law enforcement. I get that.

But the language here matters.

Mamdani could have just started off by arguing that people are overprosecuted and left it there. That’s something people will likely rally behind and something that his opponents will have a hard time attacking him for.

Instead, though, he says “violence is an artificial construction,” which is the kind of language we hear in a lot of other debates. Gender is an artificial construct. Gender roles are an artificial construct. Even rights have been termed as artificial constructs.

In short, the term “artificial construct” or “artificial construction” is a common buzzword used for undermining the mere existence of a thing.

Violence, on the other hand, isn’t. How we define “good” and “bad” forms of violence might be, but the act of being violent is no such thing. It’s an objective fact that violence happens, that people do it to others, and victims get hurt as a result.

This isn’t artificial, nor is it constructed.

What Mamdani is doing, even if unintentionally, is laying the groundwork to excuse violent crime entirely because if it’s an artificial construction, then there’s no reason to punish it beyond our need to uphold this artificial construction. Since it’s clear he’s hostile toward such artificial constructions, it seems that he favors violence not being punished.

It’s a reasonable extrapolation, after all.

Overprosecution, which may or may not be happening, isn’t a case of violence being an artificial construction. It’s a case of prosecutors crossing the line from what is acceptable and just to injustice and unacceptability. 

Mamdani’s entire argument, however, hinges on this idea, which means that it’s a good thing the Bruen decision put an end to shall-issue permitting in New York City, because New Yorkers are probably going to need those guns pretty soon if he’s elected.