Yang said such a law would flip the incentive structure for gun manufacturers. Currently, he noted, guns sales spike after a mass shooting because of fears increased gun regulation might happen soon.

In an hourlong interview with The Boston Globe editorial board Monday, Yang discussed his plans for addressing gun violence, including that steep penalty.

If you know anything about New York entrepreneur Andrew Yang, it’s probably that he is running for president on the idea of giving every American $1,000 a month. Here’s something you might not know: He wants to fine gun manufacturers $1 million for every death caused by one of their products.


Instead, if these manufacturers were fined tens of millions after a mass shooting, Yang said the government could then say to these companies, “if you want to do things that actually help bring your liabilities down, then get on board.”

Yang particularly wants manufacturers to sell more guns with gun grip technology — an existing product that keeps a gun locked unless the owner’s correct grip is detected.

“If you’re a gun owner, you’re a parent, you like your gun not being dangerous to others. As long as you trust the technology, then you’re open to the sort of change,” said Yang.

The proposed fine for manufacturers would apply not just to deaths from high-profile mass shootings, but also perhaps to individual shootings in high-crime neighborhoods. Yang also noted that there are other programs indirectly related to guns that could also make communities safer, including efforts to increase minority entrepreneurship.

In addition to fining gun manufacturers, Yang said he also supports other more conventional measures like expanded background checks and so-called red flag laws, which allow law enforcement to temporarily remove a gun from people found to be an immediate risk to themselves or others.


He also favors a permanent gun buyback program with the goal of just driving down the number of guns in private hands in America, estimated to be around 393 million, according to Small Arms Survey.

Yang, 44, has been a bit of a surprise among the large field of presidential candidates. Once relatively unknown, he was one of just seven Democrats to qualify for the last debate, besting 18 others, including governors and senators.

In his Globe interview, Yang also explained his plans to revive local journalism through matching grants, how best to address what he says are anti-trust issues with Amazon.com, drug pricing, the creation of a new federal department based in Silicon Valley to bring tech talent into the government and, his signature proposal of a universal basic income.

Yang argued that his $1,000-a-month plan would enjoy bipartisan support and break the partisan gridlock in Washington.

“So I get a bipartisan majority, push this across the finish line. Then Americans will have this very unfamiliar feeling. They’ll be, like, ‘Wow the government did something I really, really like. This money in my hands actually improves my life. This is much better than anything I can remember being done,’ ” said Yang. “And then after we get that done, then, because we’ll have this unfamiliar feeling of the government doing something right, then we’ll say what other problems can we solve.”

While Yang has 168 policy proposals on his campaign website, his path to the Democratic nomination is less clear. While he is expected to be only one of five candidates to raise at least $10 million this quarter, he is currently in eighth place in the Democratic race in Iowa and sixth in New Hampshire, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.


Yang is not among the five candidates who have qualified for the next debate in a little over two weeks, and on Monday he sent a letter to Democratic National Committee officials, urging them to pay for their own public polling in early primary states, given that none have been released in those places in more than 40 days.

To qualify for the next televised debate, candidates must show at least 5 percent support in four recent polls. So far, Yang has only one poll showing that.

Nonetheless, Yang sounded confident.

Asked whether he would be in the next debate, he replied, “Oh yeah, sure.”

James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell or subscribe to his Ground Game newsletter on politics: http://pages.email.bostonglobe.com/GroundGameSignUp