The toll of unrest caused by the AK47 assault rifle is such that even its inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov has joined the chorus of voices calling for tougher restrictions on its use. The Russian general is lobbying with Amnesty and Oxfam for a treaty to prevent the export of small arms to countries that abuse human rights.
Also pressing for action are a group of 20 bishops who wrote to the Guardian today calling on the government to take a stand:
There are currently tighter regulations on sales of stamps and dinosaur bones than there are on the sale of weapons.
According to Amnesty, small arms kill up to 1,000 people a day and examples of the 100m AK47s in the world can be bought for as little as $30 in sub-Saharan Africa. Those purchased online in the US cost a little more.
But despite the high hopes of the UN conference on small arms control this week, there's little sign yet of a crash in the Kalashnikov trade.
Venezuela is planning to set up a new AK47 factory and the Mirror reported last month that the US had mislaid 200,000 AKs intended for Iraqi security forces.
Perhaps wary of a backlash from Washington, the UN won't even be looking at the issue of legitimate gun ownership. But that hasn't stopped the lunatic fringe of the US right from raising suspicions that an overmighty world government is plotting to abolish the holy second amendment.
Rich Glasgow rants that "these socialists will never tire in their effort to take your freedoms away", although he's big enough to admit that his scenario seems "laughably implausible".
On Alphecca, Jeff Soyer has come up with a novel approach to human rights activism which, he claims, could see those 100m AKs being used to improve the lot of the world's unfortunates:
The UN and other so-called "human rights" groups ought to be making sure that AKs are also available and used to fight for human rights and be provided to those who are being "trampled upon".
