Fox host Brian Kilmeade announced on the November 8 edition of Fox & Friends that he doesn't “blame the gougers” who are jacking up prices for gasoline in the wake of superstorm Sandy. But price gouging after a natural disaster not only takes advantage of humanitarian crises, it's also illegal in both New York and New Jersey.

Kilmeade's expression of sympathy for price gougers occurred in a discussion of the difficulties victims of Sandy and the current “nor'easter” face in obtaining gas, which many desperately need for transportation, electricity, and heat. As reported by CBSnews.com:

Six days after a superstorm devastated parts of the northeast, the recovery -- and frustration -- continues.

At least 111 people are known dead. Nearly two million homes and businesses remain without power, down from a peak of over eight million -- most of them in New Jersey and New York.

There's still a scramble for gas and housing as temperatures drop.

Along the coast in Rumson, N.J., an old fashioned iron hand pump is the only way to get gasoline out of its underground tank.

The gas is fueling generators in a town largely without electricity.

One person in line said they were using the gas to power their house, take hot showers, feed their family -- in other words “the real basics like 100 years ago.”

In the face of this demand - described by co-host Steve Doocy as “gas-amageddon” - some vendors in possession of gas and gas cans are charging exorbitant prices. This windfall, however, is clearly illegal under both New York and New Jersey law that prohibits such price gouging, a fact unmentioned by Kilmeade. Both the Republican Governor of New Jersey and the Democratic Attorney General of New York have warned that this practice, described by the conservative New York Post as "sleazy," will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.

From the New York law:

During any abnormal disruption of the market for consumer goods and services vital and necessary for  the  health,  safety  and  welfare  of consumers,  no  party  within the chain of distribution of such consumer goods or services or both shall sell or offer to sell any such goods  or services  or  both  for  an  amount  which  represents an unconscionably excessive price.

From the New Jersey law:

It shall be an unlawful practice for any person to sell or offer to sell during a state of emergency or within 30 days of the termination of a state of emergency, in the area for which the state of emergency has been declared, any merchandise which is consumed or used as a direct result of an emergency or which is consumed or used to preserve, protect, or sustain the life, health, safety or comfort of persons or their property for a price that constitutes an excessive price increase.

Kilmeade is not the only Fox personality offering sympathy for those who are engaging in illegal price gouging at the expense of victims of this natural disaster. Fox contributor Judge Andrew Napolitano took the same extreme “free market” stance on Fox Business' Varney & Co, and announced that as a “practicality,” he “doesn't believe in any government regulation of the economy.” As reported by Fox Insider:

[Fox's] Stuart [Varney] believes if the stations were allowed to charge what they wanted, there would be a revolution, and Judge Napolitano thinks that is the practical way to go. “If buyers were willing to pay what they agreed to pay, there would be enough gas to go around,” said Napolitano.

“The free market can allocate resources better than the government can,” according to the judge, and gas station owners should be able to charge what they want.