Who Was Mikhail Kalashnikov?

Mikhail Kalashnikov passed away today, and for a lot of people, they don't know who he is.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was an general for the Soviet Union, and a small arms dealer who developed guns, around 150 different models, including the AK-74. He is renown for developing the AK-47, or as we affectionately call it, the "AK".

The AK-47 is the world's most successful gun in every sense that success can be measured for a gun. There were around 75,000,000 AK-47's produced. Many years later, countless militants are still using the AK-47. Even though we as Americans don't see them frequenting the streets, they are everywhere in the rest of the world. It's like soccer and the metric system.

Awards given to Kalashnikov include the USSR State Prize, Hero of Socialist Labour, Stalin Prize, Lenin Prize, Hero of the Russian Federation, Order of St. Andrew, and Order For Merit to the Fatherland.