2013-35 - Kalashnikov AK 47, by Gideon Burrows

35 - Kalashnikov AK47, by Gideon Burrows
WHY I PICKED IT: Picked up at Word On The Street Book Fair
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Day
RATING: Good

This short book included some really interesting facts about the AK47:
a) The USA purchased 10,000 of them and sent them to Iraq and Afghanistan to arm their military and police
b) They purchased the guns from an Eastern European manufacturer, in violation of the patent (owned by a Russian State-Owned manufacturer)
c) American soldiers in Vietnam used to pick them up from dead Viet Cong, because they work much better than their Colt M16.
d) 88% of the world's arms exports are from the USA ($14 billion), UK ($4.6 billion), France ($3.4 billion), Russia ($3.4 billion), and China ($0.5 billion) - not coincidentally also the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council.
e) Oman, Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, Pakistan, Eritrea and Burundi each spend more on their military than they do on education and health combined.  Another 14 developing countries spend more on military than they do on education and health (separately).

Despite making general statements about the impact of the gun on civilian populations (in terms of deaths and rape, as well as the difficulty in coming to peace when small arms are readily available and ridiculously cheap), they provided little hard data on that (prices for new / used AK47s in different countries was a bit anecdotal rather than carefully collected).

Overall, interesting as a quick read, but nothing special.