But the Kalashnikovs are alive and killing
With the passing away of General Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, it is perhaps not entirely inappropriate to wonder if the man who created the iconic AK-47 went in peace. The gun he designed as a young Russian conscript back in 1947 is today the terrorist's weapon of choice and continues to fuel wars across the globe. “Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer,” the General had often said, adding, “I always wanted to construct agricultural machinery”. But, life had other plans for this barely educated boy of Siberian peasants who had a thing for tinkering with machine parts. During the Battle of Bryansk in 1941, Kalashnikov, who was then not quite 22 years old, was injured. He spent his time in the hospital thinking about the superior rifles used by the Nazis and obsessing over a “gun that would drive the Germans from his homeland”. Six years later, he had finalised the design for the Avtomat Kalashnikova-47. Another two year afterwards, the Soviet Union began mass-producing it and even today an upgraded version of that rifle, the AK-74, is the standard weapon for the Russian military. Indeed, different versions of the AK-47 and the many others that it inspired continue to fill armouries around the world from eastern Europe across West and South Asia up to South East Asia — in part because it has been widely marketed by Russia. Yet, when it first came out, the rifle was dismissed by many for not being as accurate as the US's M-16s, for instance. But the AK-47 proved itself during the Vietnam War when it performed flawlessly in the jungles, while the M-16s, used by the Americans, often jammed. In fact, US troops were known to grab the AK-47s used by the North Vietnamese they killed in battle. And if that wasn't enough, another two decades later, the Americans used the same Russian-made AK-47s to arm anti-Soviet fighters in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan.
Till date, the durability and simplicity of the AK-47 remains unmatched —making it the preferred weapon of guerrilla warriors across the world. In the present-day context, this has meant that the AK-47 has become synonymous with jihadi fighters but let us not forget that the rifle's short barrel, steep front-sight post and curved magazine has also symbolised popular revolutions and liberation struggles. In fact, the AK-47 stands proudly enshrined on the national flag of Mozambique and is the only weapon to have been accorded such an honour. This perhaps helps understand why Gen Kalashnikov has been feted as a national hero in Russia. His legacy may make some uncomfortable, and indeed the General himself was pained to see his invention in the hands of terrorists. But he is also said to have slept soundly at night for he believed that it was not he, but Governments and their failure to resolve conflicts, that caused the ensuing carnage — and, herein, lies a lesson for his critics.