Piers Morgan Shocked When He Fires Machine Gun (VIDEO)

Piers Morgan went to a firing range in Texas on his Monday night CNN to learn what it's like to shoot an AR-15, the semi-automatic rifle used in the horrific mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Morgan has been a vocal advocate for increased gun control since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. His position led to critics creating a petition, asking the White House to deport him. Because the petition gained enough signatures, the White House had to formally address the petition and cited Morgan's freedom of speech.

After shooting the AR-15, Morgan shot a fully automatic Browning M2 machine gun, which is legal to purchase because it was made before the 1986 assault weapons ban. "I could buy that. I'd need 6 months of background checks," Morgan said. "These run anywhere from $25-45,000 ... It's about 900 rounds per minute," the gun range owner told Morgan.

Morgan shot the gun from a seated position. "Is it one bullet per fire?" Morgan asked before shooting. "No, it's going to keep going as long as you keep [the trigger] down," a gun range official said.

After shooting the gun for about 10 seconds, Morgan asked, "Why would any civilian want-need one of these?"

"This is an investment. I purchased one of these for about $12,000 and sold it for $45,000."

"Incredible," Morgan said. "Incredible."

"It's obviously too expensive to shoot, it's just the investment point," the gun range owner said.