generalspeaking

Don't Mess With Success

"If you think wine, you think French wine. If you think Kalashnikovs, you think Russian Kalashnikovs."
Blaine Bunting, head, Maryland gun store

"There's two types of people in this industry. The older style want everything done the classic way and then there's the modern types who like the tactical look."
"It's pretty cool, I think [the U.S.-produced model]. It's kind of a Call of Duty look."
Jesse Davis, salesman, Virginia gun shop

There always and forever are ways to get around any kind of hindrance to people getting what they crave. Ban something and people see it as a challenge to use whatever means are necessary to obtain them. Express disdain for a product in high popularity, and it suddenly becomes invaluable to those who see the utility and appeal of a banned object. Deny an industry the opportunity to export its popular product and watch as a quiet and effective process of distribution takes place regardless.

Alter the original formula to make it 'improved' and 'better' than the much-loved and familiar 'classic' and you've created a self-inflicted wound difficult to heal. Just ask Coca-Cola. On the other hand, even while the classical Russian-designed and -produced AK-47 is beloved of gun collectors, thugs, terrorist groups and various state militias around the world, the new and 'improved' version because it is made in the U.S. will soon become another classic, American-style.

Because, simply put, most Americans believe that anything produced in the United States of America is superior in function and design to anything that has been produced elsewhere in the world. The Obama administration punishing Russia for its aggressive hostility and illegal takeover of a neighbour's geographic sovereign land by denying entry to the American market of Russian-made AK-47s? Don't fret one little bit. Where there's a will there's always a way.

And in this instance as in so many others popularity and demand ensure that international inter-relationships in production and trade and global conglomerates sending out tentacles of production other than where they began life will offer a solution. While it remains illegal to import Russian-made AK-47s, the penalty for abusing global trust in sovereign entitlements, a new product has emerged: "Russian Heritage -- American Innovation".

The response to sales of Russian-made AK-47s feverishly doubling in sales and price as aficionados swarmed to buy up existing stock before the sanctions came into effect, led the American branch of the manufacturer, Kalashnikov USA to shrug off its import mantle and snuggle into the cloak of manufacturer of American Kalashnikovs. Simple solution to an irritating problem.

Still, not everyone will be pleased, particularly not gun connoisseurs who know authenticity when they see it. The Russian-made weapons prized by collectors are held to be infinitely more valuable than the guns that have been produced in former Soviet states. And as those other producers are considered inferior so too will the U.S. gun present to those who exult in tradition and heritage and the glow that comes with owning an original.


_{An AK-47 assault rifle recovered near the body of Osama bin Laden}

While the gun used by the Soviet Red Army has a stock made of red wood and grey metal, the American version newly introduced to the U.S. market is manufactured of black polymer. No contest. Americans will line up in two separate opinion-divided factions; those who accept innovation, and those who hold out for originality, and for the latter the U.S. version doesn't make the cut.

Labels: Russia, Sanctions, United States, Weapons

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, July 04, 2015