LOL! Where to start?
The AK-47 has become the world's most prolific and effective combat weapon...
Whoa, not so fast, chief. It's prolific. Let's leave it at that. (I know some AK owners just got really mad...but come on, the cartridge itself doesn't match the 7.62x51, so "most effective" is out).
a device so cheap and simple that it can be bought in many countries for less than the cost of a live chicken.
Hmmm...I need to move. I
guess I could do without chicken...
Depicted on the flag and currency of several countries, waved by guerrillas and rebels everywhere, the AK is responsible for about a quarter-million deaths every year.
Yep. Just jumps right out of its box and starts spraying bullets at children! Put it in jail
now, before even more carnage is wrought by its twisted, evil mind!
It is the firearm of choice for at least 50 legitimate standing armies...
I uh...don't suppose your quick 'n' dirty brand of "jounalism" allows for debate on the whole "legitimate" standing armies thing, huh? I mean, there has to be
some country other than ours that bans standing armies in their constitution, right?
and countless fighting forces from Africa and the Middle East to Central America and Los Angeles.
You mean they upgraded the L.A. gangs to "fighting forces?" Whew...sounds so impressive and dignified all of a sudden!
It has become a cultural icon, its signature form -- that banana-shaped magazine -- defining in our consciousness the contours of a deadly weapon.
Actually, the M1A1 Abrams does it for me...but to each his own I guess.