127
A more intriguing possibility
For pricing information, see An Vranckx, “European Arms Exports to Latin America: An Inventory,”
IPIS Background Report
, Antwerp, Belgium, updated January 2005.
128
The only bright spot for the Colombian government El Tiempo
, June 16, 2004. See also Marcela Sanchez, “Guerrillas March to War in $100 Boots,”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, June 25, 2004.
130
U.S. officials paid less attention
“The Iron Fist of Hugo Chavez,”
FoxNews.com
, February 4, 2005.
131
Rumsfeld discussed the AK purchase
Pablo Bachelet, “Rumsfeld ‘Concerned’ about Venezuela’s Plan to Buy AK47s,”
Miami Herald
, March 24, 2005.
131
Chávez did not immediately respond
Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough, “Inside the Ring,”
Washington Times
, February 18, 2005.
CHAPTER 6. KALASHNIKOV AND HIS GUN VISIT AMERICA
134
Fearful that government agents
See Kalashnikov,
From a Stranger’s Doorstep
, 335.
134
Over the following years, Ezell mailed Kalashnikov
Ezell,
Kalashnikov: The Arms and the Man
, 231-239.
135
On May 15, 1990, Kalashnikov arrived
Author interviews with William Addison Hurst, September 2004.
137
Over the following days
Sergeant Chris Lawson, “Top Weapons Designers Meet Here,”
Quantico Sentry
, May 22, 1990.
137
They also shared a sense of humor
Interviews with William Addison Hurst, September 2004.
138
Kalashnikov received unexpected praise
Author e-mail and phone interview with Major General Matthew P. Caulfield (ret.), May 2005.
142
Still friends, the two did not have much time
Stephen Johnson, “The Rifle Men; Meeting of the Minds Behind AK-47, M-16,”
Houston Chronicle
, January 18, 1993.
143
This small, modest man
J. Kampfner, “Kalashnikov,”
Courier
(Queensland, Australia)
Mail
, March 5, 1994.
144
Observers also took note of Kalashnikov
Celestine Bohlen, “Arms Factory Can Make Bricks, But, Russia Asks, Is That Smart?”
New York Times
, February 24, 1992.
147
“It did not look like he was really angry
” “Five Children Killed as Gunman Attacks a California School,” Associated Press, January 18, 1989.
150
Even former president Ronald Reagan
Laurie Becklund, “Saddled Up, Reagan Vows to Speak on Issues,”
Los Angeles Times
, February 7, 1989.
150
President George H. W. Bush
Douglas Jehl, “Bennett Pressured by NRA on Gun Views, Officials Say,”
Los Angeles Times
, March 18, 1989.
151
He reassured gun owners
“Bennett Feels the Heat over Stand on Guns,”
Chicago Tribune
, March 18, 1989.
157
Within a few months of the ban
Interview with Ron Whittaker,
60 Minutes
, February 8, 1995.
158
Gun magazines, which had opposed the ban Gun World
, August 2001.
158 “
If I could have gotten fifty-one votes in the Senate”
Interview with Dianne Feinstein,
60 Minutes
, February 8, 1995.
159
On February 28, 1997
There are many accounts of the North Hollywood shootout. See Nancy J. Rigg, “Shootout in North Hollywood,”
9-1-1 Magazine
, Sept/Oct. 1997, for a discussion from the dispatcher’s point of view; “Botched L.A. Bank Heist Turns into Bloody Shootout,”
CNN.com
, February 28, 1997; Beth Shuster and James Rainey, “The North Hollywood Shootout,”
Los Angeles Times
, March 1, 1997; “Stunned Police, Residents Cope with Aftermath of L.A. Shootout,”
CNN.com
, March 1, 1997; and
1997 LAPD Annual Report
. A recording of the police radio transmissions during the forty-four-minute incident is also available to the public from several sources on the Internet.
163
Police were routinely issued shotguns
Mark Schlueb, “As Danger Grows, Orlando Cops Get Rifles with Punch,”
Orlando Sentinel
, June 4, 2002.
165
Some state assault rifle bans
Author interview with John Rosenthal, June 2005.
CHAPTER 7. THE UNITED NATIONS TAKES ON THE TRUE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
171
As he hailed a cab outside the UN building
Mei-Ling Hopgood, “Gun Lobby Keeps Heat on U.S. at Conference,”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, July 11, 2001.
172
Individual countries and regional groups
Mike Crawley, “Kenya Trade-In; Guns for Schools,”
Christian Science Monitor
, January 2, 2001.
172
In a presentation a year earlier
Kofi Annan,
We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century, October 2000 Millennium Report
, April 3, 2000.
173
Even before the conference began Setting the Record Straight
, UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, New York, July 9-20, 2001. Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information in cooperation with the Department for Disarmament Affairs, July 2001.
173
Despite these clarifications
Global Structures Convocation (3rd: 1994), February 2-6, 1994, Washington, D.C.
183
The implications of such bullet-tracing systems
Joint Report of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations Operation in Burundi and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights into the Gatumba Massacre, October 5, 2004.
186
Even if marking and tracing
Johan Peleman, “Tracing Arms Flows,” presentation given at the international experts meeting on tracing illicit small arms and light weapons, organized by the GRIP and the European Cost programme, Brussels, October 22, 2004.
CHAPTER 8. AK VERSUS M-16: PART 2
189
One of the groups assigned to the area
Gordon Dillow, “Battle Transforms Fresh Faced Troops,”
Orange County Register
, March 23, 2003, in conjunction with Department of Defense Press Releases.
193
As we’ve seen in many other countries
Anna Badkhen, “Gun Market Thrives on Dread,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, March 26, 2003. See also
Small Arms Survey 2004
(Geneva: Graduate Institute of International Studies, Oxford University Press, 2004), 48.
196
Early reports from the front
Andrew England, “US Troops Using Confiscated Iraqi AK-47s,” Associated Press, August 25, 2003.
199
Members of Congress wrote letters
Ted Strideland, letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, October 1, 2003.
202
Coalition Provisional Authority officials
William Matthews, “U.S. Officials Rap Rifle Buy for Iraqi Corp,”
Defense News
, December 22, 2003.
202
Even the Russians were angry
C. J. Chivers, “Who’s A Pirate? Russia Points Back at the U.S.,”
New York Times
, July 24, 2004.
203
The story took an even stranger turn
Northern District of California indictment, U.S. District Attorney, May 23, 1996. See also Jonathan S. Landay, “Chinese Firm Linked to Smuggled AK-47s Picked to Supply Iraqi Army,” Knight Ridder Newspapers, April 27, 2005.
205
With the continuing violence in Iraq
Oliver Poole, “The Iraqi GP: Stethoscope and AK-47,”
The Age
, May 19, 2005.
CHAPTER 9. THE SECOND SELLING OF THE AK
212
Years earlier, Kalashnikov had felt
Kalashnikov,
From a Stranger’s Doorstep
, 444.
213
Viktor was more outspoken and bitter
“Kalashnikov Inventor Wants Peace; Recalls Soviets Nostalgically,” Agence France-Presse, May 7, 2000.
215
Even commercial high-end artists and designers joined the AK design movement
E-mail to author from Starck representative.
215
The founders of the online photography magazine
AK47 E-mail to author from Joerg Diekmann.
216
The fact that AKs enjoyed
Dave Graham, “Kalashnikov Sets Sights on Superbrand,” Reuters, February 17, 2003.
217
Still, the AK mystique grew stronger Playboy
, January 2004.
220
The Kalashnikov 41-proof vodka
“Russian Routlette,”
Growing Business
, June 2004.
222
In interviews after the reception
Vicky Allan, “Kalashnikov Calls New Kinds of Shots,”
Sunday Herald
(Scotland), September 26, 2004. See also “Kalashnikov Launches Liquid Weapon,”
CNN.com
, September 20, 2004. (Notes 129-132 include material from an author phone interview with Florey.)
223
Florey argued that the Kalashnikov brand was based
John Ness, “Swords into Vodka,”
Newsweek International
, November 22, 2004.
224
Florey put Kalashnikov out front to help
“Britain’s Kalashnikov Vodka to Change Name after Anti-Violence Campaign,” Reuters, January 15, 2005. See also Adam Jones, “Lobby Sets Sights on Kalashnikov Vodka,”
Financial Times
, October 26, 2004.
224
The group’s assessment was both good and bad news
Report of Panel Meeting, January, 21, 2005.
226
That same year
Billy Hidge, “Killing Machine,”
Stuff
, April, 2005
EPILOGUE: THE LAST DAYS OF THE AK?
230
Kalashnikov lobbied heavily
See Shilin and Cutshaw,
Legends and Realities of the AK
, 144.
234
In 2002
Kate Connolly, “Kalashnikov: ‘I wish I’d made a Lawn-mower,’ ”
Guardian
(UK), July 30, 2002.
INDEX
Page numbers in
italics
refer to illustrations.
Abidjan Accord
Abizaid, John
Afghanistan
bin Laden, Osama
Soviet Union invades
United States invades
Africa.
See also specific African countries
AK-47
cold war
Liberia
Mozambique
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Somalia
United Nations arms control
Ahmed, Abdullahi Yusuf
Aidid, Mohammed Farrah
AK-47.
See also
ammunition and cartridges; ballistics
Afghanistan war (Soviet Union)
Afghanistan war (United States)
Africa
arms trade
cartridges
cold war
criminal violence
culture
design of
effectiveness of
Iraq war