The deceased Russian designer of the Ak-47 may have just felt guilty months before his death in December.
According to a heartfelt letter to Russia’s Orthodox Patriarch in April 2013, Mikhail Kalashnikov pondered on the notion that he may be guilty in the eyes of God.
The head churchman accepted the plea with immense support, for the Russian Orthodox Church honors and recognizes those who protect the state.
In 2006, Kalashnikov wrote a letter to the United Nations addressing the sorrow he felt in regards to how the rifle was a major culprit to war casualties.
However, in 2007 his interview with the Associated Press portrayed such indifference.
When asked if he sleeps well at night, he was confident that it didn’t trouble him.
“I sleep well. It’s the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence,” he said.
The pioneer usually blamed politicians for the usage of his machine gun in war and combat, but in a revealing repentance letter to his church before his death at 94, it shows a different side of him:
“If my rifle took lives, does it mean that I, Mikhail Kalashnikov, aged 93, a peasant woman’s son, an Orthodox Christian in faith, is guilty of those people’s deaths, even if they were enemies.”
His daughter Elena disclosed that she believes a priest helped her father write the letter being that she has assisted him in the past.
“I have been in charge of his letters in the recent years but I did not take part in this one,’” she told Daily Mail.
His last written thoughts on the matter displayed just how much Kalashnikov was concerned about the destructive purpose that the Ak-47 served:
“The longer I live, the more this question drills itself into my brain. And the more I wonder why the Lord allowed man to have the devilish desires of envy, greed and aggression.”
Although Kalashnikov was born into a Christian home, he matured into adulthood with atheist beliefs. It was not until age 91 that he decided to rededicate his life to God, which may have been what led to his change of heart.
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