What is the most widely used weapon in the world today?

No firearm in history has enjoyed the fame or popularity of the assault rifle known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. Created by a Soviet weapons designer at the dawn of the Cold War, it was mass produced and distributed worldwide in the millions, leading to its canonization in the revolutionary Third World of the 1950s and 1960s. Indeed, far beyond its utility, the AK-47 became a Cold War icon, appearing on revolutionary flags, in songs and poems, and in televised insurgencies as proof of communist fervor and supposed martial superiority. And, it now continues to play a major role in warfare today, most visibly in guerrilla conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.

Currently, over 500 million firearms are being used worldwide, approximately 100 million belong to the Kalashnikov family, three-quarters of which are AK-47s.