Who Really Flooded the World with Weaponry?

The AK-47 and the M-16. There are few more iconic examples of East versus West than these two individual weapons. Both of them are unique and not to be confused with any other rifle. Both of them are reflections of the nations that designed and produced them. The AK series also has the distinction of appearing on the national flags of several nations, and numerous male (and maybe even a few female) children were named "Kalash", in honor of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the original AK-47 and many other Soviet weapons.

The whole world is full of guns and weapons of every description. Rifles, pistols, shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, tanks, artillery, and explosives; you name it, chances are excellent that it is disintegrating something and/or someone, and/or putting holes into someone and/or something as you read these words. Although the U.S. is believed by many dis-guided and mis-guided people to be the greatest villain in the world in this regard, some cursory research reveals that it was the Soviets and their successors that turned the world into a global shooting gallery.

Here are some rough production figures of some of the more common implements of war that are routinely seen in action these days in various parts of the world:

AK-47 and derivatives - 100 million+

M-16 and derivatives - 10 million

PK machine guns and derivatives - 2 million+

M60 machine guns and derivatives - 250,000

RPG-7 and derivatives - 10,000,000+

M72 LAW, AT4, Carl Gustav - 2,000,000+

T-55, T-62, T-72 tank - 100,000+

M48, M60, M1 tank - 25,000+ 

So, it's fair to say that the Russians, and to a lesser extent, the Chinese, have armed the world to its teeth. Not counted are the millions of weapons from the WW2 era and before, which are just as deadly, and in some cases, even more so than some modern weapons.

It's not difficult to foresee the day when bank robbers here in the U.S., rather than relying on hoodies, badly-written stickup notes, and bulges in their pockets will graduate to belt-fed machine guns, RPG's and satchel charges to do their dirty work.

The seeming abundance of weapons and explosives in the Middle East isn't surprising. For example, shortly after the U.S. invaded Iraq and "Mission Accomplished" was declared, vast stores of weapons and ammunition were left unsecured at bunkers and ammo dumps that stretched over the horizon, fueling insurgency and at a bare minimum ruining someone’s day for many, many years.

Although the U.S. is far behind the Russians in sheer production totals, that is misleading, as the U.S. historically has been reluctant to arm its "allies" with anything that said or implied "Made in USA", relying instead on securing Soviet-style arms from countries like Egypt and Israel and the open market to hide its hand, as if that is possible.