There are a pile of middle class people around here who have V chips in their tvs so their springoffs won't be exposed to anything nastier or more disgusting than their parent's squeamishness and ignorance. Anyone who equates sex and violence and truth with filth and as the opposite of innocence has never really dealt with the method by which they had children nor dealt fully with the facts of toilet training.

I know people who watch martial arts films and action thrillers all the time who won't let their kids watch horror flicks. I know people who will let themselves and their children wander around practically naked but don't want their kids to watch R rated DVDS. I know people who will let their teens play football and play violent computer games who cannot stand the idea of one of their darlings growing up to join the military.

I know people who have hunted all their lives who still believe what they read in the papers. They have a half a dozen hunting rifles in their homes, but they wouldn't think of owning an "assault weapon" until the Congress or the ATF accidently defines one of their sporting rifles as an "assault weapon". A Remington Model 400 bolt-action rifle with a Redfield scope is okay, but an SKS carbine is a really bad thing.

The AK-47 is an iconic item. It is found in all kinds art and photography and on a couple of record album covers. It has been in thousands of movies and an historical figure or two has been photographed clutching one. It is truly distinctive in appearance. There are variations on it in style and model and calibre, but the Valmet and Galil types are virtually indistinguishable in profile or shadow.

The Automat Kalashnikov 1947 was a product of Communism in action. It's named after one fellow but apparently it was the product of years of effort by others. In the end, what appeared was truly revolutionary, a robust device that could be handed to untrained troops with only a couple minutes of instruction in which hole the bullet came out of. It was the ultimate handheld weapon. More controllable than a submachine gun, more accurate than a submachinegun, less complicated than and more accurate than a pistol. More powerful in the hands of small-statured and ill-trained troops than a full-size rifle because the damned thing is actually fun to shoot and easy to carry and really handy at weddings and fiestas. The ammunition is light and easy to carry in large amounts compared to standard full-size rifle cartridges. The AK is forgiving of filthy ammunition and old ammunition and corrosive primers.