Culture Clash Casts Greats As Guilty for Gun Invention
December 10, 2003
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
It would have been inconceivable 120 years ago that Samuel Colt, Daniel Wesson or Rollin White should feel guilty for having invented the revolvers that helped change history and provided the means for the average person to defend against aggressive threats.
Even 60 years ago, few, if any, would have faulted the motives and inventions of that great Mormon gun designer, John Moses Browning.
But today, the great shift in cultural values dictates that journalists who interview modern arms designers, like the late Uzi Gal, the late Eugene Stoner, and particularly Mikhail Kalashnikov, presume that the inventors are dogged by remorse and guilt.
That approach by culture-driven journalists is apparent in almost every interview of modern gun designers.
The 20th century gun designer who takes the biggest hit from this flagellation from the media is Kalashnikov. That’s probably because his guns came out of the former Soviet Bloc, are widely used by various insurgencies, by military forces of America’s enemies, and by terrorists of every fanaticism.
Assault Rifle Fiction
The media likes to suggest that Automatic Kalashnikovs (AKs) are a primary choice of criminals in the US, but that is a part of the whole fiction about so-called assault rifles—the semi-automatic versions of the military design. The truth was in the 1990s, and still is, that criminals use few rifles and when they do, it is as likely to be any semi-automatic available.
In addition to the guilt trip imposed on Kalashnikov, there is also envy, particularly in his home country, where several journalists, competitors and historians have suggested that he really had little to do with the basic gun design that bears his name. However some of his countrymen may try to undercut his accomplishments and fame, he is still treated as a hero in his time in his own country.
What inspired this column was a Nov. 13 Knight-Ridder newspapers report from Izhevsk, Russia, written by Mark McDonald. The guilt assumption is apparent in the opening paragraphs, even though the story’s headline is a softer “Designer of AK-47 assault rifle reflects on weapon’s past.”
“The first snow of the season was pelting his country cottage—too cold and wet for any hunting today—so the dapper little general had retreated to the warmth of his kitchen. There was a wheel of Camembert on the table, some dark bread and sliced pears, and a bottle of Armenian brandy. He swirled some of the brandy in a snifter and tried to explain about all the blood and tears of the past half-century.
“ ‘A lot of people ask me how I sleep, because of all the people who’ve been killed with my guns,’ said Mikhail Kalashnikov, 84, the designer of the renowned AK-47 assault rifle,” McDonald continues, making it clear that he or his editors thought the guilt issue should be raised at the beginning of the interview, even as it is suggested that Kalashnikov lives in some physical comfort because of, or in spite of, the gun he has wrought.
McDonald provides some background for his readers:
“His light, inexpensive, virtually indestructible guns—‘they’re like my children,’ he said—long have been the weapons of choice for communist armies from Vietnam to China to Angola to Cuba. They’ve also been used by all manner of terrorists, freedom fighters, guerrillas and gangsters.
“The Kalashnikov has been the primary weapon—often for both sides—in most of the 40-odd wars of the past decade. Military historians say there are 100 million AKs at loose in the world today.” (The italics are mine since McDonald anthropomorphizes guns as though they are living things.)
Sleeping Soundly
“ ‘But it’s not the designer’s fault or the weapon’s fault when terrible things happen—it’s the politicians,’ said Kalashnikov, a former major general. ‘It’s because the politicians are unable to reach peaceful agreements. I must say I sleep quite soundly.’ ”
McDonald isn’t going to give up on his bad guns approach. Here’s more of his report:
“But what does he think about the ruthless Russian Mafiosi who also use his AKs? What about the Chechen terrorists, the Taliban holy warriors, the drug-addled boy-soldiers of Liberia and Sierra Leone?
“ ‘I’d much rather have invented a machine to make life easier for farmers and peasants—something like a lawn mower,’ Kalashnikov said. ‘But like it or not, I have to live with it, like a shell fragment in one’s body.’ ”
McDonald continues by acknowledging some of the reasons why Kalashnikov’s guns are historically so important and so highly valued by warriors.
“During the Vietnam War, many American soldiers openly admired the enemy’s lighter guns. They almost never jammed, even in wet, muddy or sandy conditions. They were easier to carry, clean and shoot.
“For all the gun’s global success,” McDonald continues, “the Russian military thinks it’s finally found a replacement for the Kalashnikov, a new assault rifle for the 21st century. It’s called the AN-94, nicknamed the Nikonov, after its designer.”
But it’s not likely to appear soon, says McDonald. “The Russian military has been field-testing the Nikonov, and the reviews from paratroopers and commandos have been decidedly mixed. Also, since the Russian army is largely broke and can’t afford 300,000 new guns, the venerable Kalashnikov could well be around for another generation or so.”
Actually, what the Russians and their allies are using is not the AK-47. Very few AK-47s actually were made. Introduced in 1947, it went into production in ’49. It was soon tweaked and became the AKM; and most of the guns in use around the world today are AKMs. There’ve been subsequent modifications, including the current AK 100 series. Also, in a nod to real commerce and realpolitik, the AK-101 has been designed to fire the 5.56 mm NATO cartridge.
Soviet Giveaway
The Izhmash company owns the patent on the Kalashnikov designs, and its legendary designer—a two-time Hero of Socialist Labor and a six-term member of the Supreme Soviet—has never received a single ruble in royalties. The Soviet military machine gave his gun designs to the Vietnamese, the Chinese, the Cubans, the Bulgarians, every empty-handed sibling in the communist brotherhood.
Izhmash now is trying—with little success—to force more than a dozen countries to pay royalties for producing its Kalashnikovs and Dragunov sniper rifles.
When Kalashnikov traveled to the US in 1990, he met Stoner, the designer of the American M-16. Stoner told him he got a dollar for every M-16 that was made, and the Soviet general was astounded at his counterpart’s material wealth. He marveled that Stoner even flew his own jet.
“But why do people always render things in terms of dollars? I was decorated by our leaders. And what other designer has a monument to him? Who has a museum built in his name while he’s still alive? Aren’t these things of value, too?”
Finally, though, there’s some real money in his bank account, according to McDonald. Kalashnikov’s grandson, Igor Krasnovski, recently struck a deal with MMI, a German company, to put the Kalashnikov name on a new line of everyday products—everything from a pocketknife to an umbrella, clothes for children and hunters, and a Kalashnikov-signature vodka.
The Kalashnikov name, whatever it might mean for the marketing of umbrellas and kiddie clothes, is likely to have some staying power.
“The gun never let anyone down in the worst conditions,” Kalashnikov said proudly. “I still get lots of letters that say, ‘You saved my life with your gun.’ That makes me feel good. My whole intention was to make life easier and simpler for the common soldier.”
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