I think this 'story' is bunk -- everything I ever heard, Mr. K had no regrets at all, blaming the guns misuse on politicians. Which is the correct perspective, imho.
Posted on 01/13/2014 5:58:26 AM PST by marshmallow
Moscow, January 13, Interfax -Legendary weapons constructor Mikhail Kalashnikov deceased in December wrote a letter to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Russia half a year before his death, the Izvestia paper wrote on Monday.
"My soul aches, it is unbearable, I face the same unsolvable question: if my gun killed people, then I, Mikhailo Kalashnikov, ninety three years old, a peasant's son, a Christian and Orthodox believer, is guilty in people's death, even if they were enemies," the edition quotes Kalashnikov's letter.
Besides, his inner emotions, the letter also contains his thoughts about the future of the country and humanity.
"Yes, the number of churches and monasteries grow in our country, but the evil does not decrease! The good and the bad live as neighbors, fight and, what is the most terrific, submit to one another in people's souls - that is what I discovered in the dawn of my earthily life. It is similar to the eternal engine which I wanted to invent in my early years. Light and shadow, good and evil are the opposites of the whole thing and they can't live without each other? Is it possible that the Lord set this order?" the author writes.
The weapons constructor expressed his thoughts about the future of Russian defense industry and the role of the Russian Orthodox Church that according to him "bears holy values of good and mercy to the world."
Head of the patriarchal press-service Protodeacon Alexander Volkov told the paper that "the Patriarch's received Kalashnikov's letter and wrote an answer."
"This letter was very appropriate at the time of attacks against the Church. The Patriarch thanked the legendary constructor for his attention and position and answered that Mikhail Timofeyevich was an example of patriotism and right attitude to the country," Father Alexander said.
He added that as to the constructor's responsibility for people's death, the Church has a very definite position: when the weapons serve to protect the Motherland, the Church supports both his creators and militants who use it.
"He invented this gun to defend his country, not for the Saudi Arabian terrorists," Volkov stressed.
Fair enough for me.
His design killed millions, mostly by socialist governments against their own citizens.
It wasn’t his gun’s fault, it was his communist government’s.
It’s the driver, not the car.
I think this 'story' is bunk -- everything I ever heard, Mr. K had no regrets at all, blaming the guns misuse on politicians. Which is the correct perspective, imho.
We have long argued here on FR that it's the holder of the tool, not the tool itself, that is responsible for the actions taken with the tool. He is no more responsible for those deaths than Bushmaster is for Sandy Hook.
Governments turn most inventions/discoveries to bad, ask Oppenheimer.
I believe Chekhov wrote a humorous short story about a despondent young man, a mechanical engineer, who had been unlucky and was contemplating suicide by throwing himself into a river.
Being a potential suicide, the devil was keeping watch to see if he could gather his soul, but in casually reading his mind, the devil discovered the potential for the young man to invent a formidable weapon, a fully automatic pistol.
Contemplating the potential of such a weapon to promulgate evil in war and peace, suddenly the devil realized that the young man was about to kill himself, and his invention might be lost for a generation or two. So the devil had to intercede to save the young man’s life.
The rest of the story is of the devil in the unusual position of trying to convince the determined young man of the beauty of the world and the value of living.
Guns do not kill people... people kill people... ANYTHING ELSE IS A COMMUNIST LIE!
Yes. Typed and signed by a wavering hand...more propaganda from the leftist abusers vilifying the assault weapon. The only news in this story is that the MSM will hype all kinds of anti-gun rhetoric to keep their constituents in shape.
How many have been killed by rocks, or sticks? Who manufactured those?
Do not tell that to the gun control folks, they will have a hissy fit!
This isn’t exactly a huge deal. Of course a man near the end of his life is going to be looking back and scrutinizing his actions. Of course a man who is dying will have regrets. Would all of the people killed with AK-47s and AK-variants have been killed if Kalashnikov hadn’t invented the AK-47? Maybe; there were other guns available, and one of them would have filled the void. But on the other hand, his design was quite revolutionary and made the gun more durable, so perhaps if there were no AK-47 less of those people would have died. That this would be running through a dying man’s mind near the end isn’t exactly shocking. It’s also not exactly worthy of so much publicity.
Ultimately, the Patriarch has the right response. Kalashnikov was doing his duty by serving his country with his design. He is not responsible for the misuse of his weapons, any more than Henry Ford is responsible for all the deaths that have occurred because of people driving Ford vehicles.
That’s easy for Oppenheimer to say when he never tasted the delights of a Japanese concentration camp.
The Japanese knew that they were losing the war and were planning to retreat back to the Japanese mainland where they would regroup for the defense of their country.
It was well known that they had also planned to execute every prisoner before leaving the occupied countries. The nukes thwarted their plans.
Long live Paul Tibbitts and the Enola Gay!!!!
‘Wish I had an AK-47.
I agree, just saying that government can weaponize anything.
Correct. His gun killed no one. He only fired his gun at targets and in tests. His design was mass produced and misused by governments, mainly socialists/marxists/maoists/leninists/etc against their own populations.
NICE! Consider that quote stolen and re-used. Thanks!
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