From msnbc: US civilians are now buying about the same
number of Kalashnikov-style weapons as the Russian army and police...
IZHEVSK, Russia — The nickname of this town, home of the
factory that makes Kalashnikov rifles, is the “Armory of Russia.” Over the
years, it has armed a good number of other countries, too, as the lathes and
presses of the Izhevsk Machine Works clanged around the clock to forge AK-47s
and similar guns for insurgents and armies around the world.
But these days, many of Izhevsk’s weapons are headed
somewhere else: the United States.
Despite the gun’s violent history — or perhaps because of it
— American hunters and gun enthusiasts are snapping up tens of thousands of
Kalashnikov rifles and shotguns. Demand is so brisk that the factory has
shifted its focus from military to civilian manufacture over the last two
years. United States sales of the civilian versions, sold under the brand name
Saiga, rose by 50 percent last year, according to officials at the factory,
known as Izhmash.
Over all, the United States is the world’s biggest market
for civilian guns. That is partly because of comparatively lenient gun
ownership laws, which have become a topic of renewed debate after a rampage
last month in which a masked gunman killed 12 people and wounded 58 in an
Aurora, Colo., movie theater. Although no Kalashnikovs were involved.....
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