AK-47 is the most numerous and widely distributed weapon in history

AK-47 is the most numerous and widely distributed weapon in history, with a name and appearance that are instantly recognized worldwide. Designed in the late 1940s for the Soviet Army, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 47 ('Automatic of Kalashnikov 1947') became the universal weapon by the late 20th century, used by armies, militias and terrorists in practically every armed conflict, and by all sides in most of them. Even the United States has purchased mass quantities of AK-47s for friendly forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the armed services and the State Department train U.S. military and civilian personnel to handle and fire AK-47s in emergencies as part of their training for deployment to the war zones.
How did the AK-47 became as fundamental to contemporary warfare as Microsoft operating systems are to corporate computing? C.J. Chivers sets out to tell the story in 'The Gun.' A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times and a former infantry officer in the Marine Corps, he has seen the AK-47 in action while covering wars from Iraq and Afghanistan to Chechnya and Central Asia, and his experiences enhance his account."