Assemblyman Marc Levine and a group of fellow Democrats have introduced a bill that would place a new tax on gun sales and use the money for violence prevention programs.

The introduction of Assembly Bill 18 came less than a month after a dozen people were shot to death at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks.

“Too many innocent people are dying from gun violence,” Levine, D-Greenbrae, wrote in an email. “Gun-related homicides are increasing across the nation and in California.”

At the beginning of December, the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive reported there had been 325 mass shootings nationwide so far in 2018, and gun violence overall had claimed more than 13,000 lives. Gun-related homicides increased 18 percent in California from 2014 to 2016, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Many details of the bill, including the amount of the tax, remain to be worked out.

“The cities of Chicago and Seattle levy a $25 tax on the sale of guns,” Levine wrote. “That’s a ballpark number for the tax proposed in AB 18.”

Levine said the number of guns sold each year varies, sometimes significantly, but he estimates that if the tax was $25 it could raise between $12 million and $24 million annually.

Revenue generated by AB 18 would go to support the existing California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program (CalVIP), which last year awarded more than $8 million in grants to communities hit hard by gun violence.

Overseen by the Board of State and Community Corrections, CalVIP distributes grants to cities and community-based organizations. In 2018, grant recipients included Los Angeles, Oakland, Richmond, San Bernardino, Stockton, Compton, Vallejo, Pasadena, Salinas, Oxnard and Santa Rosa. More than a dozen community-based organizations serving at-risk youth also received grants of up to $500,000

“California’s CalVIP grant program is making critical investments in community-driven efforts to intervene and prevent violence before it occurs, but this program has received inadequate and unstable funding,” said Ari Freilich, California legislative affairs director for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

“We applaud Assemblyman Levine for exploring ways to create a new, dedicated funding stream for this lifesaving program and look forward to working with him on this important legislation this year,” Freilich said.

Mattie Scott, president of the California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, voiced similar support for AB 18.

“We thank Assemblymember Levine for his effort to keep this funding going in the years to come, while at the same time helping to reduce the gun violence,” Scott said in a statement.

But Gabriel Vaughn, owner of the Sportsmans Arms, a gun shop in Petaluma, said people purchasing a gun already have to pay extra for a background check and a firearm safety certificate. He said a new requirement for ammunition sales background checks, which becomes effective next year, will add additional costs.

“It’s a constant money grab in California,” Vaughn said. “It’s death by a thousand cuts.”

Levine jointly authored the bill with Assemblymen Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, and Adrin Nazarian, D-North Hollywood. So far it has garnered six co-authors, and Levine said other members of the Assembly have asked to be added to the list of co-authors since the bill was introduced. But he isn’t underestimating the effort required to win passage of the legislation.

“It will require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, which is always difficult to achieve,” Levine wrote. “Even some Democrats are afraid to vote for gun control and taxes.”

This is not the first time Levine has taken on the gun industry. In 2016, he authored AB 1135, which became known as the “bullet buttons bill.”

The legislation prohibited long guns that have what is called a bullet button to make it easier for shooters to swap magazines. Issued in response to a shooting in San Bernardino that killed 14 people and injured 22 others, AB 1135 removed assault rifles like the AR-15 from store shelves.

In a recent guest editorial published in the Los Angeles Times, Levine wrote about the consequences suffered by some California legislators who have voted in favor of legislation to rein in the gun industry.

Levine said a blogger using the name “Doe Publius” posted the home addresses and phone numbers of 40 lawmakers, including his own, online. The blogger labeled the list a “tyrant registry,” and wrote, “These tyrants are no longer going to be insulated from us.”

Levine said after the posting, some legislators received anonymous phone calls. At least one was answered by a lawmaker’s child.

“Californians should be aware of the intimidation tactics that gun fanatics employ,” Levine wrote in an email to the Independent Journal.

He added, however, “This should not be a reason for lawmakers to look the other way when we can take action to save lives.”