I did not know that, I would have thought that the AK platform was considered so EVIL by the libs that no one in the USA would be allowed to manufacture such an EVIL KILLER MONSTER ASSAULT RIFLE, that can shoot a hundred billion bullets a second and is capable of shooting nuclear weapons when it sneaks out at night to murder innocent women, children, and students.
(I beg your pardon, that was one hell of a run on sentence)
Our “free” market couldn’t produce an AK at the price point of imports. Now, with imports drying up, we’re getting into the market. It was shaky, at first. Some guns could be counted on for about 1500 rounds, and then became dangerous.
Lots of parts kits were imported, and can be built here, on American receivers. Also, a lot of Romanian and Polish rifles that the CCCP had contracted for Iraq were captured, cut to pieces, and imported, post WOT. For a price, you can build, or have built, what are essentially Cold War AKs.