Posted: 1/25/2007 6:36:06 AM EDT
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=392535&in_page_id=1811 AK-47 inventor backs gun control campaign Last updated at 11:28am on 26th June 2006 The inventor of the infamous AK-47 assault rifle today backed a major international effort to win tighter controls on guns. Lieutenant-General Mikhail Kalashnikov said he supported moves at the United Nations today to stop the "illicit" spread of small arms to terrorists, bandits and criminals. A new report from Control Arms campaign said the AK-47 is the world's most poorly-regulated weapon. It comes as campaigners hand over a petition calling for tougher arms controls to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, at the opening of the two-week UN Small Arms Review Conference in New York. General Kalashnikov, who invented the rifle which bears his name in 1945, said in a statement to the campaign: "I support initiatives aimed at the development and adoption of an international treaty on the prevention and eradication of illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in small arms. "I wish success to the participants in the UN Small Arms Review Conference in their ongoing efforts to establish an effective international control over the illicit spread of small arms." He added: "When I watch TV and see small arms of the AK family in the hands of bandits, I keep asking myself: how did those people get hold of them? "I believe that military-grade weapons shall remain in the hands of armed forces, and the military shall guard them properly, so that the arms would be securely under lock and key. "Because of the lack of international control over arms sales, small arms easily find their way to anywhere in the world to be used not only for national defence, but by aggressors, terrorists and all kinds of criminals." He added that he felt indignation when he saw weapons he designed in the hands of terrorists, and that it was "very depressing" to see them used to take innocent lives. But he suggested that weapons designers could not be held accountable for the way arms are used. Because of this lack of control, the report predicted the rifle will remain the most widely-used weapon in conflict zones for at least the next 20 years. The report - a joint effort by Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms - estimated there are up to 100 million AK-47s, and its variants, in circulation today. They are found in the state arsenal of at least 82 countries and produced in at least 14 countries. Venezuela has recently signed the first deal of its kind to assemble Kalashnikovs in the Americas, a campaign spokesman said. He added that many thousands of people are killed every year by the weapon, which can fire 600 rounds of ammunition a minute. Gareth Thomas, the UK Minister for International Development who is also at the conference, said: "The UK wants to build on the UN's initiative and set global guidelines on when countries can deny an export licence, to promote a consistent approach and identify nations that are irresponsibly selling guns to conflict zones. We hope other members will speak out in favour of a set of politically-binding rules." Oxfam's director Jeremy Hobbs said: "Out of control and unregulated, AK-47s have been used to murder and maim, fuelling conflict and poverty in the world's poorest countries. "One million people from around the world have signed the petition calling for tougher arms control. "At this UN world conference, governments must agree global rules for small arms sales and help put an end to this suffering." Amnesty International secretary general Irene Khan said: "The AK-47 is a symbol of the way in which the arms trade has run amok, destroying lives and livelihoods. "Only global rules to control who produces the weapons and to whom they are sold will ensure that they don't fall into the wrong hands." |
Who doesn't? 
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Hey would you mind changing your thread title so it will show up on dupe searches? I searched for "Kalashnikov" and "control" and nothing came up so I "duped" the article.  I'm just thinking about others that will do a dupe search and not find this earlier thread.
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Yeah, sorry about callin' ya out on that one. I just happened to stumble across this thread about 3 minutes before seeing yours pop up. |