Soviet ideological roots?
Mikhail Kalashnikov became a weapons designer because his country was invaded and devastated by Nazi Germany during World War II. His motivational “ideology” was to drive out invaders who were killing his countrymen and destroying their homes, despoiling their land, and depriving them of the resources they needed for their existence.
He was not a Communist, he was a patriotic Russian, and remained one until the day he died at the age of 94 on 23 December 2013. He said many times that he’d have rather become famous for building a tractor than an automatic rifle. As an old man, he even wrote to the Patriarch and asked for forgiveness because his weapon had been used by criminals and for unjust causes, and received a letter in response that he had designed the AK to defend his country and was not in any way responsible for what others had used it for.
Furthermore, it’s a damn gun. Guns don’t vote and don’t have political views. A Kalashnikov isn’t Communist or Putinist anymore than an AR-15 is capitalist.
The AK-47 and its derivatives are popular in the United States and in other parts of the world because they are some of the best, most reliable rifles ever made. There are other rifles that are more accurate, but when you absolutely, positively need something shot immediately, nothing gets it done better than a Kalashnikov.
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