Democratic state Sen. Cynthia Creem, of Newton, is sponsoring legislation that would increase taxes on firearms by 4.75 percent and place the additional revenue into a trust fund.

The tax would extend to "all ammunition, rifles, shotguns, firearms or parts thereof," the bill's text reads.

Firearms purchases in Massachusetts are already taxed 6.25 percent by the state and 10 to 11.25 percent by the federal government, depending on the type of sale.

Creem wants to create a Firearms Violence Prevention Trust Fund using revenue solely from the new 4.75 surcharge. The trust fund will provide grants for programs aimed at reducing gun violence, such as hiring school resource officers or training for police officers.

In addition to establishing the violence prevention trust, Creem's bill would also ban the sale fo .50-caliber weapons and ammunition, with punishments ranging from a $1,000 to $10,000 fine or possible jail time.

Furthermore, Creem's bill addresses online purchases of guns, requiring that those transactions take place on a web platform developed by the Department of Criminal Justice's information services. Information about the sale of the gun must be provided to the department before the transaction can be made.

Creem told Wicked Local that she hopes the bill will make gun transactions safer.

"Gun violence issues have always been important to me," Creem told Wycked Local. "I've filed gun legislation every session. I want to make it harder and harder to get guns in and get guns into the hands of people who shouldn't have them."

Even if those weapons do get into the hands of people who shouldn't have them, they might not be able to fire them. Creem's bill would expand the use of personalized firearms technology, like installing fingerprint scanners on the weapons to prevent anyone but an authorized user from firing the weapon.

Creem has filed anti-gun legislation every year she has served at Beacon Hill.

"Some of these are just common-sense thoughts," she told Wicked Local. "This is not telling people they cannot have a gun. I have great concerns over private gun sales, where we don't utilize the national instant background check system."