I would say he was playing with it to impress one of the stewardesses but then the image of the typical flight attendant came to mind.
It was probably the result of a deep philosophical question: If a gun goes off at 36,00 feet, does anyone hear it?
I don't know, but if he had shot out the front glass, I'll bet people on the plane would suspect something wasn't right. ;-)
“typical flight attendant”
You sound like Osama Obama!