I see that Mikhail Kalashnikov has been made "A Hero of Russia" for inventing the AK-47 assault rifle.
More than 100 million have been produced and dispersed around the globe since 1947.
An estimated 70 million of these cheap guns are still in use around the world.
Based on the numbers it has killed, it is the deadliest weapon in history, a weapon of mass destruction.
The Washington Post noted in November 2006 that the AK-47 was "the world's most prolific and effective combat weapon" and that it was "responsible for about a quarter-million deaths every year". Some gun, some award, some hero.
Peter Sherwood, Discovery Bay
