A Deadly Life

AK-47 Creator Dies at 94

Mikhail Kalashnikov designed the world's most popular gun.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the world’s most popular gun, the AK-47, died Monday at age 94. Kalashnikov was a Soviet Union weapons designer when his creation, the Avtomat Kalashnikov went into production in 1947. It has since become the most popular firearm in the world, with an estimated 100 million spread across the globe, and is the weapon of choice for many soldiers, guerrillas and terrorists. Kalashnikov, who’d been hospitalized in Russia’s Udmurtia republic when he died of unspecified causes, had often commented on how unconcerned he was about the bloodshed his invention had caused. “I sleep well,” he said in 2007. It’s the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence.”