Over 60 years ago, Mikhail Kalashnikov, a Russian peasant and inventor, would set into production the final model of the weapon he wanted to make to exact revenge on Nazi invaders. The Avtomatni Kalashnikova model-1947 would eventually be the mainstay weapon of drug traffickers, rebel groups and whole armies even to this day.
From the Wired article:
American soldiers in Vietnam, toting M16s prone to jamming, gained a grudging respect for the AK-47, too, when they began encountering them in large numbers.
[...]
Kalashnikov, now 89, has expressed regret that his AK-47 has become the weapon of choice in the terrorist world, but he suffers no pangs of guilt. “If someone asks me how I can sleep at night knowing that my arms have killed millions of people, I respond that I have no problem sleeping,” he said. “My conscience is clean. I constructed arms to defend my country.”
There are an estimated 100 million Kalashnikovs in circulation, and at the equivalent of $25 apiece overseas, it’s no wonder it’s so widely used, given it’s proven reliability.
Let’s not forget that it’s the fav weapon in videogames, which is why it’s even popular in regions of the world where we don’t even need it (like Canada!). See http://www.giantbomb.com/ak-47/93-187/ for a whole list of them that have the AK-47. My personal fav is Goldeneye, where most of us probably saw it for the first time. It’s best to shoot up f*cking campers/snipers like Jason, LAL.
Posted by Mathieu on July 6th, 2009.