Questions grow after Uzi death of child

Call for new rules at gun shows

The micro Uzi machine pistol placed in the hands of an 8-year-old at a Westfield gun club's pumpkin shoot last month is so hard to handle that it has earned a nickname among gun enthusiasts: the "Fifty-fifty."

"That means there is a fifty-fifty chance that you'll either kill whomever or whatever you're aiming it at or kill yourself," said Steve Traver, owner of D&S Gunworks, a firearms company in Hancock. "That machine gun should have never been at that shoot. It doesn't have a grip and has such a high rate of fire that even adults have a lot of difficulty controlling it. It's designed for highly-trained bodyguards, not children."

Yet 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj was handed the gun last month and, with an instructor by his side and his father standing behind him, was allowed to pull the trigger. The gun careened from his grip, and the boy shot himself in the head.

Beacon Hill lawmakers have now called for a Public Safety Committee oversight hearing Nov. 17 to craft legislation that would address the issues of who may discharge a firearm and the conditions for handling firearms.

"We want to understand how exemptions exist that would allow a child to get their hands on this type of weapon, how these firearms are in Massachusetts, and what are these roving gun shows and how do we allow them to rove in Massachusetts," said Representative Michael A. Costello, the Newburyport Democrat who is cochairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security.

The outdoor event in Westfield was organized by COP Firearms & Training, an Amherst company run by Pelham Police Chief Ed Fleury that organizes machine gun shoots regionwide.

At the time, some dismissed the incident as a freak accident. But the fact that children were shooting the gun that day at the Westfield Sportsmen's Club has astonished many in the firearms community.

"To someone untrained, it's a very dangerous weapon to handle," said Craig Swinson, owner of CQB Arms in Richmond and a chief range safety officer and firearms instructor certified by the National Rifle Association. "They're loud and, because of the short barrel, not controllable and basically a last-ditch weapon. It is generally used by bodyguards for executive protection, to lay down a lot of targets at a short distance."

Swinson added that the micro Uzi is known for its severe kick, requiring people who fire it to grasp the barrel to control it.

Because the barrel is so short, it presents other hazards. "There is always the danger you will shoot your fingers off, because of the movement when it recoils," he said.

The annual Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club boasted on its website before the event that a $5 entry fee was waived for children under 16 and said there was "no age limit or licenses required to shoot machine guns." Before the accident, other children had fired the gun with the help of a guide, the boy's father, Dr. Charles Bizilj, said in an interview in October.

The Westfield Police Department is leading an investigation into the shooting. The Hampden district attorney's office and the Boston regional office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also investigating. Westfield Police and the district attorney's office did not return calls yesterday seeking comment. Their investigations will probably focus on whether those responsible for conducting the shoot were negligent in allowing a child to handle such a weapon and whether any state licensing laws or other laws were broken in the process.

State lawmakers say gun clubs appear to be unregulated. Massachusetts law requires anyone under age 18 to have parental consent and the supervision of a licensed instructor to fire an automatic weapon. Otherwise, there is no minimum age to fire such a gun.

"The more I look into it, the less regulation there seems to be," Costello said. "I hear there are over 200 gun clubs in the state, so we want to find out what is their licensing procedure and what regulations exist."

Todd Reichert - supervisory special agent in Washington, D.C., for the ATF - said federal statutes come into play at gun clubs when a licensed dealer sells guns or if illegal machine guns are being fired or traded on the premises. "When it comes to gun laws," he added, "there is no blanket yes and no blanket no. The answer often is, it depends."

It is unclear how the micro Uzi came to be at the club that day.

Some gun sellers said there is very little demand for the gun. "It's useless," Swinson said. "They aren't very practical and don't sell much."