#In New York, the protests should be about shootings by civilians

A pair of shootings of black men by cops in Wisconsin and Louisiana has enflamed anti-police protests across the nation. But here in the city, the problem isn’t trigger-happy cops but out-of-control gunplay by civilians.

Police in Louisiana fatally shot Trayford Pellerin as he tried to enter a convenience store Friday. Sunday in Kenosha, Wis., cops fired at Jacob Blake with his back turned as he got into his car. Blake was fighting for his life on Monday, his family said.

The incidents ignited violent protests in both places and also fueled demonstrations in other cities, like Portland, which have dragged on since the death of George Floyd. Yet in New York, protesters shouldn’t blast cops but demand more of them — and tougher action against crime.

After all, cops here rarely fire their weapons, compared to those elsewhere. And the city already passed reforms after Floyd’s death — measures that, in fact, go too far.

The “anti-chokehold” law, for instance, criminalizes a much broader range of contact with a suspect, pushing officers to hesitate before getting too involved. City Hall forced the NYPD to scrap its central anti-gun units and cut the department’s budget.

Meanwhile, 86 percent of Americans — 81 percent of blacks — want police to spend as much, if not more, time in their area, a Gallup poll found this month.

That’s understandable in New York: Just this past weekend, nearly four dozen people got shot, as the city marked its 12th straight week of surging gun violence, The Post reported Monday. Murders are up 30 percent over last year through Aug. 16; the number of people shot, 88 percent.

The crimes are appalling — just watch the video of the heartless murder of Bronx mother-of-three Priscilla Vazquez, 25, early Saturday morning.

New York City needs to fix what’s going wrong here, not answer for the problems of Wisconsin or Minnesota. And that means empowering the NYPD, not slapping it around. Undo the “reforms” that are driving this crisis.