I just want to know where to get one of these $15 Kalashnikov's:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-kal12.html
Kalashnikov sorry his rifle is terrorists' No. 1
June 12, 2006
BY HENRY MEYER
MOSCOW -- Mikhail Kalashnikov says he designed the assault rifle that bears his name to fend off the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
But six decades later, he laments its transformation into the worldwide weapon of choice for terrorists and gangsters.
''Whenever I look at TV and I see the weapon I invented to defend my motherland in the hands of these bin Ladens I ask myself the same question: How did it get into their hands?'' the 86-year-old Russian gun maker said.
The question is especially acute as a U.N. conference on curbing the small-arms trade convenes June 26 in New York. Kalashnikov is thinking of sending a statement.
Sturdy and cheap, firing 600 bullets a minute, the world's estimated 100 million Kalashnikovs account for up to 80 percent of all assault rifles. It sells for as little as $15.
Weapon featured in Hezbollah flag
Its genesis dates to 1941, when Kalashnikov was in a hospital with severe wounds from a German shell that hit his tank.
Thinking about the Soviet forces' inferiority because of their lack of an automatic weapon, he says he had a brainstorm one night and jotted down a design which he worked on for much of the next six months, assisted by Red Army colleagues.
They worked ''in a burst of enthusiasm, out of a huge desire to make a contribution to victory over the fascist invaders,'' he said.
It would become the Kalashnikov, also called the AK-47, for the year the design was completed. It came too late for service in World War II, but was standard issue in the Soviet army and was exported to arm Third World allies and insurgents.
It proved ideal for desert and jungle -- easily assembled and able to keep firing in sandy or wet conditions that would jam a U.S.-made M-16.
The Soviet Union is dead, but the Kalashnikov's empire thrives. Updated models -- AK-74, AK-101, AK-103 -- are manufactured in Russia.
It's seen in Osama bin Laden's videotapes and on the flags of Mozambique and the Hezbollah fighters of Lebanon.
''We sold the weapons to some countries for a symbolic price or even for nothing, with the aim of assisting national liberation struggles. Of course, this meant the Kalashnikov became available around the world,'' the designer said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-kal12.html
Kalashnikov sorry his rifle is terrorists' No. 1
June 12, 2006
BY HENRY MEYER
MOSCOW -- Mikhail Kalashnikov says he designed the assault rifle that bears his name to fend off the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
But six decades later, he laments its transformation into the worldwide weapon of choice for terrorists and gangsters.
''Whenever I look at TV and I see the weapon I invented to defend my motherland in the hands of these bin Ladens I ask myself the same question: How did it get into their hands?'' the 86-year-old Russian gun maker said.
The question is especially acute as a U.N. conference on curbing the small-arms trade convenes June 26 in New York. Kalashnikov is thinking of sending a statement.
Sturdy and cheap, firing 600 bullets a minute, the world's estimated 100 million Kalashnikovs account for up to 80 percent of all assault rifles. It sells for as little as $15.
Weapon featured in Hezbollah flag
Its genesis dates to 1941, when Kalashnikov was in a hospital with severe wounds from a German shell that hit his tank.
Thinking about the Soviet forces' inferiority because of their lack of an automatic weapon, he says he had a brainstorm one night and jotted down a design which he worked on for much of the next six months, assisted by Red Army colleagues.
They worked ''in a burst of enthusiasm, out of a huge desire to make a contribution to victory over the fascist invaders,'' he said.
It would become the Kalashnikov, also called the AK-47, for the year the design was completed. It came too late for service in World War II, but was standard issue in the Soviet army and was exported to arm Third World allies and insurgents.
It proved ideal for desert and jungle -- easily assembled and able to keep firing in sandy or wet conditions that would jam a U.S.-made M-16.
The Soviet Union is dead, but the Kalashnikov's empire thrives. Updated models -- AK-74, AK-101, AK-103 -- are manufactured in Russia.
It's seen in Osama bin Laden's videotapes and on the flags of Mozambique and the Hezbollah fighters of Lebanon.
''We sold the weapons to some countries for a symbolic price or even for nothing, with the aim of assisting national liberation struggles. Of course, this meant the Kalashnikov became available around the world,'' the designer said.
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