In 1919, Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian engineer and designer of the AK-47 rifle that bears his name, born.

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He says some the Georgians, even supposedly experienced ones, have great difficulty firing even Kalashnikov AKM rifles.

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Under the terms of the Oslo peace accords the Palestinian security forces are armed only with small arms - Kalashnikov assault rifles and M16s.

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Spain was also aware that Chavez was scheduled to take possession from Russia of 30, 000 Kalashnikov assault rifles just days after signing the CASA aircraft deal.

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There were no heavy machine guns, either, nothing larger than a Kalashnikov, which meant that the new patrol base could be outgunned by any Taliban soldier with a grenade launcher.

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The dubious glamour of the Kalashnikov mesmerizes him.

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The problem of cyber arms control is akin to the greatest arms control failure of the Cold War, which still persists: the mass distribution of the most produced firearm in human history, the Kalashnikov AK-47.

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In an attempt to make it harder for organised criminals to arm themselves, and in a nod to global counter-terrorist efforts, a group of ten eastern and central African countries, including Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, which owe their liberation movements partly to the Kalashnikov, has agreed to harmonise gun laws.

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