Aohell

The Fight Against Open-Source Weapons

"Today I didn't even have to use my A.K.

I got to say it was a good day" - Ice Cube, "It Was a Good Day"

Ah, the Avtomat Kalashnikov! Famous the world over for its winning combination of reliability and lethality, this prized firearm can stick it to The Man in more ways than shooting at his entourage or overthrowing his nation. It can also deprive The Man of his intellectual property rights.

Back in the Cold War, the USSR decided it would be really cool to turn over the plans for the AK-47 to any government who wanted to make them, totally free. Whitey was on the run once Ivan's assault rifles got into the hands of dusky people around the globe. The AK-47 put the "running" in running-dog capitalist lackey, back in the day.

Now the USSR is all broken up and the government of Russia is concerned about its own dusky peoples (or dusky-equivalents) getting their hot little hands on AK-47 knockoffs and using them to stick it to The Russian Man. Russia would like to see those assualt rifles go away and never come back. That would make its job of holding together millions of people who want to break away from a failed state that much easier.

But it can't. Those AK-47 rifles are made all over the world, and anyone with $300 or so can get one, thanks to their abundant supply. Even famously poor folks down in South Central Afghanistan can get an AK-47 and launch their careers as mujahadin, sticking it to The Man Du Jour in Kabul. So the Russian government hopes to make it so those AK-47s aren't as cheap as they are now.

Russia is trying to enforce its patent on the AK-47 and successor guns. The more modern AK-74, which shoots a 5.45mm bullet that leaves horrendous wounds - Afghans called it "the poison bullet" - is also copied in factories all over the cheaply-armed world, and the Russians want that weapon protected as well.

One problem with this development in Russia's new-found respect for capitalism is that many nations have modified the design for the AK-47 and patented that new design for themselves. Those guys would tie things up in court for years, and you know what it's like when you take on city hall, even when you're another city hall yourself. Even a former world superpower city hall just can't wave a magic wand and make the Kalashnikov knock-offs go away.

Another problem is that of any open-source movement. Once summoned, the genie of open-source is impossible to shove back into the bottle. Information wants to be free, as every hacker knows, and the world is one Google search away from scoring kits, plans, modifications, and all sorts of neato things related to the Avtomat Kalashnikov. The same way people will always be able to download the latest Hollywood blockbusters one week before opening day, Kalashnikovs will always be out there for assembly and purchase.

The inventor of the Kalashnikov, meanwhile, has decided to cash in on his famous name by launching a Kalashnikov brand of vodka.

The moral of this story for future statesmen from this story has to be if you make cheap and reliable firearms available to the entire world, expect it to come back and bite you in the butt later on. Sort of like using heroin dealers to assist in counter-insurgency operations, but that's another article...