DA considers charges in shooting death of boy at gun show
Unclear which laws applicable in Westfield case
Two days after an 8-year-old boy fatally shot himself with a machine gun at a weapons exposition in Westfield, the Hampden district attorney launched a criminal investigation yesterday into the incident.
In a press release, District Attorney William M. Bennett said he has found "no lawful authority" or law that would allow an 8-year-old to possess or fire a machine gun.
The investigation is expected to focus on whether any state laws that govern the use of firearms were violated and whether those who allowed the child to handle the fully-loaded automatic 9mm Micro Uzi weapon were "reckless or wanton" in doing so.
The investigation is being conducted by local, state, and federal authorities, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Bennett was not available for comment on the investigation, but aides said there was no timeline on its completion.
The accident occurred during a "Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo" at the Westfield Sportsmen's Club.
Christopher Bizilj, a child described as a model third-grader from Ashford, Conn., was shot in the head, apparently when the recoil of the firearm sent it up and backward.
His father, Dr. Charles Bizilj, said he stood 10 feet behind his son as a professional trained in using the weapon stood beside the boy.
"This accident was truly a mystery to me," he told the Globe earlier this week. "This is a horrible event, a horrible travesty, and I really don't know why it happened."
He said his son had fired handguns and rifles for three years. While Sunday was the first time the boy had fired an automatic weapon, the father said he had seen other children fire the weapon at the event.
Even with Bennett's statement that he could find no policy or agency that allows young children to handle such deadly weapons, it remained unclear yesterday what laws exist, state or federal, that specifically prohibit children from using automatic firearms at gun clubs.
Adam Martignetti, a spokesman with State Representative Michael A. Costello, said, "We're trying to figure out what laws are in play and what goes on in private gun clubs, because it's not exactly clear."
Costello, a Newburyport Democrat who co-chairs the House Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, said Monday that he plans to draft a bill that would ban anyone younger than age 21 from firing an automatic weapon.
Daniel Vice, senior lawyer with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, based in Washington, D.C., said in a statement yesterday that he believes, "Massachusetts law specifically prohibits furnishing a machine gun to any person under 18. It is unconscionable that the gun fair allowed and encouraged young children to fire machine guns."
State laws on the sale or furnishing of weapons or ammunition to minors allow instructors to furnish rifles, shotguns, or ammunition to students under the age of 18, provided the instructor has the consent of the parent or guardian of that student.
But Vice said Uzis are categorized as machine guns and are therefore in a different class than rifles or shotguns.
Since 1994, the Commonwealth has banned the sale and manufacture of assault weapons such as Uzis, but gun clubs that owned such firearms before the ban came into existence were allowed to keep them for use by members because of a grand- father clause.
John Rosenthal, founder of Newton-based Stop Handgun Violence, said, "this is a gaping hole, and these events by gun shops are a cynical loophole that allows citizens to shoot these weapons even though they can't own them.
"No adult under any circumstance should allow a child to hold, not to mention fire, a fully automatic weapon, period," Rosenthal added. 