"Sheer numbers have made the AK-47 the world's primary tool for killing"
Excerpt:
Mass production of the AK-47 began by 1950, 15 years before the U.S. introduced its own automatic rifle, the M-16. In addition to cranking out AK-47s by the millions, the Soviet Union set up factories to produce them in Warsaw Pact countries and the People's Republic of China, and eventually in states such as Egypt and Iraq, where the Soviets sought influence. The outpouring of AK-47s is estimated at more than 100 million and still rising—one for every 70 people in the world and more than 10 times the number of M-16s produced.
Comment: the book: The Gun
