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Why would anyone fire a submachine-gun at the ocean from the window of a moving plane?

"What can I say? Bucket list? Because it's fun? Because we can? I dunno," Tampa, Fla., gun seller Mark Serbu told As It Happens guest host Susan Bonner.

Serbu, who owns Serbu Firearms in Tampa, was one of three people seen in a viral video shooting a 9-mm Heckler & Koch MP5 toward the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.

As of Wednesday, the video had been viewed nearly 150,000 times on the Do It With Dan YouTube page, where the titular Dan documents his stunts and adventures. It has garnered hundreds of comments, more than a few of which question the legality of the activity.

In the video, Dan asks Serbu, "What are the legalities of this?" to which he replies, "I didn't really ask. I'm assuming it's OK."

It's funny, I can just gather by the fact that you're in Canada first of all ... [and] just a little bit by your tone that you probably don't have a lot of familiarity with guns. - Mark Serbu , gun seller

And so far, it appears he's right.

The Tampa Bay police were flagged to the video and determined no laws had been broken, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is also investigating, but has not yet commented. Serbu says he's meeting with them later this week and is confident he won't get into trouble. He says he was only feigning ignorance of the law in the clip.

"It was totally deadpan humour," he said." Of course I had thoroughly researched this beforehand."

Aviation law expert Guy Haggard told the newspaper that Serbu has a leg to stand on.

"People use helicopters for things like hog hunts," Haggard says. "In Florida, you can shoot guns from the sky in some situations."

What's more, he says, it is legal to drop an object from an aircraft under FAA regulations as long as reasonable precautions are taken to prohibit injuries.

And Serbu says they took precautions, such as heading to an isolated area, only loading the gun once it was pointed outside of the plane and training with the firearm beforehand.

"The video made it look like it was all fun and games, but there was some serious homework behind it," he says.

Mark Serbu of Serbu Firearms in Tampa, Fla., says he didn't do anything unsafe or illegal when he took his daughter and a YouTube star up in a plane to shoot a gun out the window. (Mark Serbu)

Serbu noted his own credentials as a mechanical engineer with 20 years of experience in the gun industry and said he and his daughter, the third person in the video, are both familiar with the gun in question.

"It's fun and thrilling and exhilarating and exciting and at the end of the day we didn't hurt anything or anybody or anything, and it's beautiful to be able to do that and be allowed to do that."

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At one point in the interview, Serbu suggests Bonner doesn't understand because she's Canadian.

"It's funny, I can just gather by the fact that you're in Canada first of all, and second of all, just a little bit by your tone that you probably don't have a lot of familiarity with guns."

When pressed about how the video could inspire others who might have less experience or different motives, Serbu was steadfast.

"You know, there's always that possibility no matter what.… You can't live your life worried that you're gonna somehow inspire somebody to do something stupid. The U.S. would have stopped at the Mississippi River if we all had that attitude."

Would he do it again?

"I guess I'll have to see what the FAA says," Serbu laughs.