Letter: Kalashnikov Suffered Remorse Over Rifle He Invented
Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK-47 rifle who died last month at the age of 94, wrote a letter in 2012 to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church expressing "spiritual pain" over the deaths caused by the ubiquitous weapon.
More than 100 million AK-47 and variants have been sold worldwide since it was first produced in the Soviet Union in 1949. The Kalashnikov rifle quickly developed a reputation for being cheap to make, reliable and easy to use, making it the weapon of choice for many of the world's infantry soldiers, freedom fighters and terrorists.
As we reported in December, when Kalashnikov died, the inventor had hinted publicly at some remorse over the deaths that resulted from the weapon but never said so unequivocally.
However, the Russian Orthodox Church says that in a May 2012 letter addressed to Patriarch Kirill, Kalashnikov — who converted to the religion at the age of 91 — wrote:
"My spiritual pain is unbearable.
"I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people's lives, then can it be that I... a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?
"The longer I live, the more this question drills itself into my brain and the more I wonder why the Lord allowed man to have the devilish desires of envy, greed and aggression."