If you want to fire what the Boston Gun Range calls “the most powerful handgun in the world” while in Massachusetts, you will not only need deep pockets, but also a range at which to shoot.

The BGR charged $5 per bullet for a chance to pull the trigger on the Smith and Wesson .500-caliber handgun, but since the Feb. 21 suspension of the Worcester range’s licenses, the same triggers that evoked community outrage following an October suicide have remained locked.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Despite the current moratorium on business, manager and gunsmith Bill Fox said, before the death last fall, business was strong.

“I’ve had lines to the door at times,” he said of the clientele who used to frequent one of Massachusetts’ three public indoor shooting ranges.

When it was open, the BGR enticed patrons to drop $50 on a half-hour of range time or to purchase a $150-hour-long introductory course taught by Fox himself. Fox instructed Boston professionals and a smattering of celebrities at the range. He said he instructed Beyoncé Knowles on how to handle a gun for her role in Goldmember and doled out tips to Sean Paul’s posse when the rapper hit Boston. The Icelandic singer Björk even visited the range while in town.

At the gun range, options were everywhere; revolvers, rifles, handguns and semi-automatics filled long, glass cases. Even targets were available in different varieties: Osama, Saddam or the standard body silhouette. Fox’s role was to explain the selections to customers, as long as they were not put off by his bulky, tattooed build.

DISCIPLE OF DISCIPLINE

“It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,” Fox said, referring to the not only to the .45-caliber handgun he carries strapped inside his leather vest, but also to the knowledge of how to properly fire a gun.

“It’s basically something exploding in your hands,” he said. “And the key is trigger discipline — a slow, easy squeeze. The target is proof; a target can speak to me.”

The leather-clad Worcester native with a biker’s appearance — who said,”I don’t believe in cars” — approximated that when business was good, 50 to 60 first-time shooters showed up at the range each week. Fox said he has seen his share of doctors, lawyers and artists from the city.

Nearly half his customers were women, who Fox claimed are naturally better shooters than the men. “Women are steadier because they’re more cautious,” he said. Enough women come to the range to warrant the introduction of pink earmuffs for hearing protection.

A more militarist discipline is needed for some shooters with skewed expectations — a sort of professionalism Fox picked up when he served nine years in the Army as a tanker and an armorer in Kosovo, Bosnia and Korea.

“Some guys come in thinking they can shoot gangsta style, sideways and all that. I’ve got to deprogram them of the MTV crap,” he said.

Fox said he believes Hollywood does the gun industry no good. “It’s tough to go to the movies. I think, ‘That gun can’t do that.'”

Fox “is constantly teaching,” said Tom Nolton, a BGR employee who has worked under Fox for three and a half years. Fox himself has been at the BGR for over five years.

“I’m a fairly good shooter, but I know nothing compared to Bill,” Fox’s friend Jason Golas said. Golas added that he hopes his seven-year-old son will learn to shoot, and when the time comes, he said, “I wouldn’t trust anyone but Billy.”

PERSONAL PASSION

Fox said that he has been interested in firearms his whole life.

“It’s more a gift than anything else,” Fox said. He equates his knowledge of firearms to any other mechanical aptitude. Like many kids, Fox loved his first BB gun. But unlike his friends, he had a mother who worked at the Harrison and Richardson gun factory in Worcester and a grandfather who helped develop the M-1 rifle used in World War II.

After going to school as a machinist and serving twice in the military, Fox began to collect firearms. He learned to rip apart a gun every time he found a new one to explore the little parts that intrigued him. His expensive hobby turned into a handy side business. Fox cleans and services guns, in addition to restoring antique firearms to tip-top condition.

“There’s always guns just sitting around in someone’s barn,” he said. “I just restored a World War II luger.”

As most people with collections do, Fox has a personal favorite: the Wildey Magnum, a hand-crafted, gas-operated, semi-automatic as seen in the film Death Wish 3 following the wrathful phrase, “Wildey’s coming.” Fox grinned when he talked about it, his dark brown goatee lifting upward.

“It’s the most beautiful firearm ever made,” he insisted. “I found one in Kansas when I was 21 and bought it right then for 2,000 bucks. Then I didn’t see another one for six years until I found it online through a local gun shop.

“I love the way it looks,” he added.

Bill said despite his prized collection, his wife has never warmed up to his hobby.

“She deplores guns,” Fox said. “I think she’s shot one maybe once.”

Still, Fox said he thinks it is necessary for him to have a gun on hand at times.

Fox said that once a young man followed him down an alley with a pit bull. Fox opened his vest and threatened, “You better get him away from me.”

He also said that one night a man pulled a knife on him as he walked down Main Street in Worcester.

“You wanna get stabbed?” Fox said the man asked.

Fox said he only had to show his .45-caliber gun and ask, “You want to get shot?” to quell the attacker.

“There’s bad people wherever you go,” Fox said, “and guns can be an equalizer.”

Fox said he’s not the only who feels this way. The Glock pistol he had with him one night came loose from his holster and he left it in the backseat of a cab. After he called the cab company to recollect the gun, Fox said the driver who returned it told him, “That’s the safest I’ve ever felt in my cab.”

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

The Worcester Police Department has been keeping a wary eye on the BGR since October, when a 35-year-old Uxbridge woman rented a 9 mm handgun there and used it to kill herself.

The range violated state law by not performing a background check on the woman to discover she had a felony conviction, WPD Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said. Furthermore, the city ordinance that allows the gun range to rent firearms to unlicensed shooters — felons or not — conflicts with state laws prohibiting the practice.

The BGR website touts that the range does not require permits for shooters.

“Would [the Uxbridge woman] have killed herself anyways?” Hazelhurst said. “Who knows? But the Boston Gun Range certainly facilitated it. And who’s to say someone isn’t hell bent on taking a few people out before they go?”

After a disciplinary hearing in February, WPD Chief Gary J. Gemme decided to suspend the BGR’s license to sell or rent firearms or operate as a gunsmith while the WPD investigates the suicide.

The Worcester City Council plans to meet over the next several weeks to examine the gap between city and state gun laws.

City Solicitor David Moore said he thinks the council will reconcile the contradictory laws by banning unlicensed shooters, who comprise about 85 percent of the BGR’s customers.

“It would basically force the range out of business,” Moore said.

While Fox refrained from commenting on the suicide, he said he can only hope for the best regarding local gun laws — and his job. “I have to have faith,” he said, “because I love guns, and I love Massachusetts.”

Though guns may stir up debate in Massachusetts, a mass of customers kept Fox busy one Sunday afternoon before the licensing suspension.

In the BGR’s bathroom, a picture over the toilet depicts the Statue of Liberty packing heat. Back on the range, couples steadied one another against recoil and two young boys eyed free popcorn while their father loaded their .22-caliber gun.

Empty metal cases from nearby shooters flew backwards.

When a space opened on the range, a BGR attendant handed a Smith and Wesson .500-caliber handgun to a reporter.

“Are you ready?” he asked.