As we’ve watched the crime headlines over the last year, a thought occurred to us — perhaps we’re going after the wrong charges on criminal suspects.

We see time and time again a small group of people allegedly committing the majority of our area’s crimes, going in and out of the revolving prison doors.

One problem is getting a conviction on a complicated criminal case can be difficult — either because prosecutors fear going into court with out a rock-solid case or because defense attorneys are better than prosecutors.

We could avoid some of those hurdles by tackling the matter from a different direction.

People in possession of stolen firearms seem to account for the majority of those charged with the most violent crimes.

That blankets almost all violent gun crimes committed by juveniles since they cannot legally possess a firearm.

So the solution may not be better criminal evidence gathering or a better prosecutor, the issue may be the specific charge.

The solution may be as simple as drastically ramping up the minimum prison sentence for being in possession of a stolen firearm.

Would having a 10-year, mandatory prison sentence for being in possession of a stolen firearm serve as a deterrent to crime? Perhaps.

Certainly the current setup is not working well so it’s time to begin thinking up a different approach.