AK-47: More than just a rifle
(WorldNews Health)

From an idea in the mind of a wounded young soldier, the AK-47 has risen to become perhaps the most iconic rifle of all time, adorning national flags and coats of arms, gracing Hollywood screens and music, and becoming a symbol of liberation and oppression around the world. The AK-47 dates back to 1941, when Mikhail Kalashnikov - then 22 - was recuperating in a Soviet military hospital after being wounded in the shoulder fighting the Germans in the Second World War. Asked by another soldier why German soldiers possessed automatic weapons while Soviet soldiers often had to share antiquated rifles, Kalashnikov - a natural tinkerer with a flair for engineering - got to work. His design, easy to...