Once again, the gun instead of the criminal is being made the focus of crime and punishment.

Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin will join other Law Enforcement from around Tennessee Monday as part of a state wide effort to make your streets safer.

Their goal is to drum up support for the new Crooks with Guns legislation. Chief Godwin and other lawmen from around the state are fed up with the number of guns that fall into the hands of criminals.

Yeah, like the three machine guns, two semiautomatic handguns and two 12-gauge shot guns that were stolen out of a SWAT van in Memphis. (To be fair to Memphis police, the SWAT van belonged to some Raleigh, NC cops who were just passing through.)

“This weapon right here is an s.g. 551 6-hour 223 fully automatic it will shoot one round burst three round burst 20 round burst, this weapon right here is capable of firing 550 600 rounds per minute,” says Director Godwin.

Uh-oh, big scary gun! Must be bad!

Just how many of those weapons right there have been used in crimes? Not exactly the weapon of choice for the average Mapco holdup dude, is it?

And not relevant to the conversation other than the fact that it is just the kind of prop needed to make headlines and scare little old people into voting for the $70 million that will be required to pay for the results of the Crooks With Guns legislation.

State Senator Mark Norris (usually one of my favorite politicians) is co-sponsoring the bill and claims that similar legislation in NY state “cut crime by 58 percent.”

“We’re trying to crack down on violent criminals to quit coddling criminals,” says Norris.

Now we’re talking!

The bills cover crimes from illegal firearms to gang violence. It also adds extra prison time to repeat offenders who commit crimes with a guns.

Hey Mark, how about extra prison time to every repeat violent offender? I don’t care if someone uses a .22 popgun, an everyday screwdriver or (in the case of a rapist) a body part, violent assault is a dehumanizing, invasive, scary experience. A repeater offender shouldn’t get a chance to keep on doing it, no matter what the weapon of opportunity turns out to be.

Let’s quit blaming the gun and start focusing on the criminal.