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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Kalashnikov faces bankruptcy
2009-09-22
Posted by:tipper

#11  Wish I had time to really get into this, but alas.

Bottom line: don't adopt the terminology of the enemy. Guns are never too cheap, too big, too small, too scary looking or anything else. The second you go down that path you are opening the door for well meaning politicos to take away your fundamental rights. Don't do it. That's why we talk about these rights as fundamental. They are not available for tinkering. They cannot be traded away for government goodies. And they must not be abridged because someone thinks this or that gun is too cheap.
Posted by: Iblis   2009-09-22 22:12  

#10  Kevin gets on a roll, get outta the way
Posted by: Frank G   2009-09-22 21:27  

#9  Whew! That was certainly a rant, anonymous5089! :-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2009-09-22 21:21  

#8  Simple image, think of a career criminal that sell weapons at a loss to any street gang he thinks can give him leverage, and after a while complains that now that he's trying to make a profit being a legit arm dealers, he finds that he fueled his own competition. Not good for him? Gee, I'm sorry. Not good for the neighbourhood? Sure!
Posted by: anonymous5089   2009-09-22 16:11  

#7  I have nothing against the right to keep and bear arms, as a matter off act, but, just think of the consequence of the FLOODING of AK in africa, in Asia, everywhere. I don't "blame" the AK gun, it's just an object, I blame the PEOPLE who basically armed every two-bits insurgents, warlord child soldiers, militia looters,... to the point that the AK is figured proeminently on various FLAGS and group logos (think : hizbullah) as THE symbol of the "armed struggle" (hint : not a fight for freedom, except if you define "freedom" as international communism used to do).

So, yeah, you can herd your population into gulags if they are not armed; totally agree, and I even believe RKBA should be an human right.
BUT, again, you can also arm drugged up children and have them raze entire villages, because AK are so cheap, plentiful, easy to use and efficient (relatively to hacking people to death). Not just that, think of what it meant to tribal warefare, plenty of infighting among lots and lots of "traiditonal" societies in africa notably. Now, AK have replace spears, that does change things a bit.
Armed societies are NOT civil societies! Civil societies are civil societies, armed or not. Screwed socieyties, on the contrary are even more screwed up when armed. Don't know what somalia would be today without all that soviet weaponry, doubt they would be Switzerland (some fundamental differences, I'd say), but I don't see how that isn't a big aggravating factor. Not the main cause, but not an help, neither.


Anyway, again, I don't blame the guns, most probably, should the AK never have been designed, something else would have taken its place, or if not, well, there were and still are HUGE surplus of WWII weaponry floating around the world, pretty beat up and vintage by now, but still plenty serviceable.

Soviets NEVER had to answer for their crimes, and I do think that flooding the world with cheap weaponry (and NOT to people fighting not be herded into gulags, quite the opposite) is part of that ongoing criminal heritage.

So, yeah, that slap to the face michael kalashnikov and all the people in the russian small arms business is sweet. F*cked by the blowback of their own policies, now that they are in a business...

Belated, ultimately meaningless (already, what, 80+ millions of AK & knock-off's in circulation???),... but sweet.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2009-09-22 16:05  

#6  Obviously Iblis , but hey its easier to blow someones brains out from a distance than to get up close and personal, so to speak.

It's also easier to herd your population into gulags if they aren't armed. Fundamental freedoms aren't about what's easy.
Posted by: Iblis   2009-09-22 13:55  

#5  Obviously Iblis , but hey its easier to blow someones brains out from a distance than to get up close and personal , so to speak .

Posted by: Oscar   2009-09-22 10:22  

#4  Machetes killed plenty of people in Rwanda. Guess we don't need cheap guns to do evil after all,
Remainder redacted.

Let's remain civil, shall we?
Posted by: Iblis   2009-09-22 02:31  

#3  Well, guns don't kill people, but... access to cheap (cheap because inexpensive to make, and spread around like a flu virus by those nice commies bent on arming every third worlder) certainly has led to **much** unnecessary violent death around the world.

So, yeah, too bad for Mr. Kalashnikov, too bad for the Izmah workers, but, still, it's a very satisfying bit of poetic justice.
Won't change things, but, still, nice slap in the face.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2009-09-22 02:29  

#2  I guess that's what happens when you build enough of something that doesn't wear out for almost everybody to have them (AK-47).
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-09-22 02:18  

#1  The World will never be the same.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2009-09-22 01:21  

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