A socialist lawmaker in New York City has claimed “biological need” gives shoplifters the right to steal from store shelves.

State Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher, who describes herself as a “neighborhood organizer” and “democratic socialist,” made her comments on Thursday outside Manhattan Criminal Court, the New York Post reported Saturday.

She was joined by members of Court Watch NYC, which claimed they monitored hundreds of arraignments for several days and found half of those cases were misdemeanors.

Gallagher said:

Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty-people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like…

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