Posted on 03/07/2017 5:08:39 AM PST by Vlad The Inhaler
TAMPA — Two men and a woman take turns poking a fully automatic submachine gun out the slightly open window of a small plane in flight.
They open fire toward the Gulf of Mexico below.
The whole thing was videotaped, edited and posted to the YouTube channel, Do It With Dan.
"What are the legalities of this," asked Dan, the host, as they walk toward a single-engine plane at Peter O. Knight airport for their flight.
Tampa gun maker Mark Serbu, 55, holding a camouflage backpack with the gun barrel sticking out, answers, "I didn't really ask. I'm assuming it's okay."
The Tampa Police Department agreed with Serbu on Monday, but only after taking the matter under advisement. Law enforcement agencies were alerted to the video by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, owners and operators of Peter O. Knight.
The Federal Aviation Administration also is investigating, but would not elaborate Monday.
A lawyer specializing in aviation issues, Guy Haggard of Orlando, said it wouldn't surprise him if the FAA follows the lead of Tampa police.
"People use helicopters for things like hog hunts," Haggard said. "In Florida, you can shoot guns from the sky in some situations."
And under FAA regulations, Haggard said, it is legal to drop an object from an aircraft as long as reasonable precautions are taken to prohibit injuries.
Bullets could be defended as "dropping objects," Haggard said.
WATCH: Video shows gun being shot from plane
The YouTube video includes a slide that says the trio flew for hours to a "safe location" before pulling out what they call a "machine gun." Serbu, the pilot and the owner of Serbu Firearms in Town 'N Country, identified the gun to the Tampa Bay Times as a fully automatic, Heckler & Koch MP5 9 mm submachine gun.
Since no one called law enforcement to complain about gunfire, it appears no one was put at risk, said Tampa police spokesman Stephen Hegarty.
Serbu told the Times he circled the Gulf of Mexico between Clearwater and Tarpon Springs for more than an hour before settling on a safe spot a couple miles from shore at an altitude of about 3,000 feet.
Until the Times contacted him Monday, Serbu said he didn't know the video had drawn the attention of authorities.
"There was no one close to us, no one for at least 10 miles," he said.
"We did everything safe. I had my daughter with us."
Valerie Serbu, 22, is the third person on the plane.
The trip was the idea of the show's host — a man identified on YouTube as Dan who says he's 24 and from Atlanta but wouldn't give the Times his last name. His channel specializes in videos of motorcycle and firearms stunts and has over 800,000 subscribers.
"He just thought it would be fun to shoot guns into the water from a plane," Serbu said with a chuckle.
Some of Dan's viewers had negative things to say in the YouTube comments section, so he took the video down last week — but not before someone copied it to send law enforcement. Dan put the video back online Monday afternoon.
Neither Serbu nor Dan could remember the date of the flight. Police learned from personnel at Peter O. Knight that they flew out of the Davis Islands airport Feb. 21.
In 2013, Serbu made national headlines by refusing to sell semi-automatic, .50-caliber rifles to the New York City Police Department because he disagreed with the NY SAFE ACT that classifies the weapon as an assault rifle, banning it from use by the public.
Serbu planned on selling shirts with the image of the Soup Nazi from the Seinfeld sitcom and the words, "Hey NY-Gov ... No Serb For You" — a play on the character's "No soup for you" catchphrase.
Actor Larry Thomas, who portrayed the Soup Nazi, demanded his likeness be removed so Serbu replaced it with one of him.
"Looks like I did it again," Serbu said with another chuckle Monday.
Near the end of the video, host Dan says shooting a gun out of a plane "might be the most American thing" he's ever done.
The video concludes with a teaser for another of his YouTube feats — firing off flamethrowers in his front yard.
Note that some GFW copied the video and sent it to law enforcement agencies.
A reminder that there are always people who are irritated when they see others exercise freedoms that they don't agree with.
LOL...it made me think of the Raiders of The Lost Ark movie (the one with Sean Connery as his father) where they stole a plane, and when being attacked by Germans, his father using the rear machine gun shoots off the tail!
“They got us, Son.”
On this, if someone is over the gulf, firing seaward, and there are no ships in view, who cares (besides liberal weenies who, like Puritans, get upset when they see someone having fun)
Sure...they could have shot their own wing off or something, but...as long as I don’t have to do the JFK Jr. spiral into the sea along with them, I don’t really care.
Ted Nugent shoots feral hogs with a machinegun from a helicopter.
I love shooting on the ocean from a boat. You see your splashes even 100s of yards away, and that’s how you correct your fire. The speed of a 5.56mm compared to .22LR getting out to about 500 yards is impressive.
The easiest thing for him would be to go out 12 miles from shore and shoot all he wants.
He’s probably OK on the legalities based on a central part of natural law. What is not prohibited is allowed. If there’s no law stating that one cannot shoot into the water from an airplane, he’s OK.
I never got any joy out of fully automatic. No doubt there are situations in which full auto is the best thing tactically, probably all bad situations, but I prefer to aim each shot. As for the video, I approve of him doing it, if for no other reason than to make liberals wet themselves, but I won’t bother watching.
For Leftists, everything is illegal unless explicitly permitted by the Government.
It's a lot of time in the basement, doing repetitive work.
Everybody wants to shoot full auto as long as the government is paying for the ammunition.
Nope. ATF will get you on "Importing a machinegun" and "illegal export".
Trust me, those assholes HAVE done that to f**k with big FFLs in FL. Call Ruben Mendiola and ask him the stories, or Mike Landis in Key West.
To me is seems to be very simple. Were they handling/operating the firearm in an unsafe manner? No. Were they operating the aircraft in an unsafe manner? No. Where they endangering anyone else (eg. on the ground / at sea)? No. Then there is no reason for law enforcement to get involved. Unless they wanted to take a spin and let a few rounds go too.
“On this, if someone is over the gulf, firing seaward, and there are no ships in view, who cares “
The huge manatee.
Imagine what our loyal GFW would have done if they had seen this!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzRF-5IWrm0
Hint...MA Duce forever :-)
FWIW Myself and a couple of dozen other Freepers were there when it was filmed.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Hehehe...yep!
Shooting and blowing up things is standard fare for guys (and some women)
We like it. It is in our nature. I watched a video from Iraq where a bunch of Marines called in an airstrike on a house, and when the JDAM came whizzing in and made a direct hit, these guys (probably most under the age of 20) were hooting and hollering like it was a winning touchdown!
Granted, there were people inside that house who apparently wanted them all dead, so there was extra incentive there, but...it reminded me of being a kid, and we would put a bunch of M-80’s together and try and blow up some old thing.
Same reaction...:)
One thing that makes liberal’s heads pop off is a machine gun shoot...I kind of enjoy the fact that it pisses them off!
In Wyoming they hunt cayote from 2 seat Rans aircraft
Legal
Agreed, and that work should have a payoff. I want holes to appear where I planned when I pull the trigger, and a general “the holes are thataway” is not enough satisfaction.
Next time on the How to Waste 9mm channel.
If I am paying for the ammo, I get a much better bang for the buck (pun intended) considering each shot and taking it under my full control.
When Uncle Sam was providing the ammo, the only thing better than an M2 was the full auto 40mm grenade launcher. One should do both before dying.
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