#wasr

"The Death of a Working Class Icon."

1988 WASR 10/63 GP AKM

The Avtomat Kalashnikova: a universal symbol of utilitarianism, revolution, and terror alike. A simple, rugged amalgamation of stamped steel and minimal moving parts that continues to fight almost 80 years after its introduction. Its ubiquitous nature owed not just to its affordability, but to its unmatched reliability in every environment it's ever been called upon to fight in.

In every other country, the AK is the bottom-rung of affordable armament. In the US, the story is quite different. Here, the AK is faced with a unique set of challenges, handicapped by 30 years worth of import restrictions, overpriced ammunition, inept domestic manufacturing, and a shifting civilian gun culture that has all but rendered it obsolete.

The AK was the last gasp of WW2 era firearm technology. Its manufacturing tolerances are loose, with canted front-sights, crooked rear sight blocks, and misaligned barrels being the norm even on examples approved for military service. The AK made sense when it was a cheap alternative to arm those who couldn't afford an AR-15, but with its affordability and availability a thing of the past, it has become an overpriced historical novelty unable to justify its glaring deficiencies.

A drastic culture shift has seen the AR and AK abruptly switch sides, with the AR-15 taking center-stage as the affordable weapon for the masses and the AK becoming a symbol of decadence. A weapon once sneered at by highfalutin collector types has now become their darling, as cringeworthy AK owners compete in vulgar spending contests, overpaying for rotting surplus parts while foolishly clout-chasing who's got the most expensive brand of receiver from the most expensive builder with the most convincing fake "battle-worn" finish.

Sunday gunday burning it down with the guys.

Motivations behind Union soldiers and what drove them to fight for the United States in the war

Although Union soldiers primarily fought to preserve the United States as a country, they fought to end slavery as well, stating that:

While restoration of the Union was the main goal for which they fought, they became convinced that this goal was unattainable without striking against slavery.

Confederate soldiers did not discuss the issue of slavery as often as Union soldiers did, because most Confederate soldiers readily accepted as an obvious fact that they were fighting to perpetuate slavery, and thus did not feel a need to debate over it:

Only 20 percent of the sample of 429 Southern soldiers explicitly voiced proslavery convictions in their letters or diaries. 

As one might expect, a much higher percentage of soldiers from slaveholding families than from nonslaveholding families expressed such a purpose: 33 percent, compared with 12 percent.

Ironically, the proportion of Union soldiers who wrote about the slavery question was greater. There is a ready explanation for this apparent paradox. 

Emancipation was a salient issue for Union soldiers because it was controversial. 

Slavery was less salient for most Confederate soldiers because it was not controversial. They took slavery for granted as one of the Southern 'rights' and institutions for which they fought, and did not feel compelled to discuss it.-