Moscow
Kalashnikov honored: Moscow has erected a 30-foot statue to honor Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47. The lightweight automatic rifle, invented in 1947, is easy to operate and maintain and has become the weapon of choice for some 50 foreign armies—as well as countless guerrilla groups, gangsters, and drug traffickers. Said to be responsible for 250,000 deaths every year, it has killed more people than all other modern weapons combined. “Alas, for life to continue, for lovely children to grow up, for beautiful women in Russia, there must be a weapon,” said the statue’s sculptor, Salavat Shcherbakov. Kalashnikov, who died in 2013 at age 94, said that his pride in his invention was tinged with pain at seeing it used by mobsters and child soldiers.