Lieutenant-General Mikhail Kalashnikov designer inventor of the Soviet AK-47 assault weapon. Over 75 Million of these weapons have been produced. The rifle is capable of firing 600 rounds per minute and has an effective range of 350 meters. It fires a standard 7.62 x 39 mm cartridge. These military weapons are considered highly reliable under harsh conditions, are low cost, and are deadly.

Mikhail Kalashnikov started the design, from a hospital bed. In 1941, Kalashnikov was wounded in the Battle of Bryansk against the German Nazi aggressors. His passion came from his German enemies’ use of superior weapons that were not available to his brother soldiers. The war ended and he finished the design after the war.

Before his death on December 23, 2013, he had become extremely remorseful due to all the people who have been killed by his rifle design. Mikhail wrote a regretful letter several months before his death asking the head of the Russian Orthodox Church if he was to blame for the deaths of those killed by the guns. “The pain in my soul is unbearable. I keep asking myself the same unsolvable question: If my assault rifle took people’s lives that means that I, Mikhail Kalashnikov, am responsible for people’s deaths,” he wrote in the letter. Further according to a Reuter’s report he had remarked, "It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon."

More Info: en.wikipedia.org