©InfoSmall arms and other light weapons designed for use by individual soldiers are widely available throughout the world. Millions of people have died or been injured because such powerful but simple-to-use weaponry is cheaply available.
This assembly kit explores the topic by focusing on one particular weapon - the assault rifle AK47 or Kalashnikov. Over its lifetime it has become the most popular such weapon across five continents.
The assembly script below can be adapted through discussion and rehearsal. Or it can be performed more or less as it is by staff or students or a mixture. The add-ons that follow it suggest possibilities for variants and additions. The follow-up activities suggest ways to explore the issues in more depth in class after the assembly.
Contents
Downloads
Age group
Aims
Performance
Optional section
Add-ons
Follow-up activities
You can either download the complete resource materials or continue reading this page. The assembly kit is available in both PDF and Word format. The accompanying photos are available in Powerpoint slides.
Teachers wanting to know more about weapons of war can also read the teacher briefing.
Age group
This assembly is suitable for 11 to 16 year olds.
- To raise students' awareness of the significance of the worldwide trade in small arms, by focusing on one of the best-known weapons of modern times.
- To help students appreciate what happens when simple, reliable and durable lethal weapons are relatively cheaply available to untrained combatants and children.
- To introduce students to the concept of arms control and to let them explore how international humanitarian law might save lives and reduce suffering.
There is no single narrator. The roles are split between three voices. If necessary, these can easily be split further or combined, depending on circumstances. An optional central section invites students to contribute what they know.
Note that the introduction is delayed. For maximum dramatic effect it might be better not to advertise the weapons topic in advance.
Voice 1
In 1947, after months of trial and adaptation, an inventor revealed a new version of an existing product. It was an instant success. Factories all over the world went into production, manufacturing millions and millions.
Voice 2
The product is still on sale now – 60 years later – very much in its original form. No one else has invented or manufactured a similar product or improvement that has had the same appeal for consumers.
Voice 3
Even in poor countries, where luxuries are few, and even basic food and medicine can be expensive and hard to obtain, the product sells well and is greatly valued.
Voice 1
Despite its popularity, no one in the UK owns one. At least, not legally. Private ownership of the product has been banned in the UK since 1988.
Voice 2
The product we are talking about is … [dramatic pause and unveiling of a photo, if used] ... a gun.
Voice 3
This is not just any gun. This is the world famous AK47. Also known as the Kalashnikov.
Voice 1
Kalashnikov is the name of the inventor. It is called AK47 because it was created by Mikhail Kalashnikov, a tank commander in the Soviet army. It was simply given the reference name A for automatic, K for Kalashnikov, and 47 for the year of its invention.
Voice 2
It is estimated that between 50 and 70 million of these weapons are in use worldwide. It is an assault rifle, one of the standard "small arms" used by individual soldiers. Pull the trigger and it fires a single cartridge. This sends a bullet out of the rifle at 710 metres per second. The empty cartridge case is ejected. Pull the trigger again, and it fires again.
Voice 3
Adjust a switch, and the gun will fire automatically – at a rate of 600 shots a minute until the trigger is released or the ammunition runs out. This will happen quickly. Its standard magazine contains 30 cartridges, which will empty in three seconds.
Voice 1
The gun has just nine parts. It was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov for easy training and to be used by people across the Soviet Union, including those with limited education. It is simple to take apart, clean, reassemble, and make ready for firing. It is very reliable, working even when sandy, muddy or in extremes of cold or heat.
Voice 2
It is so simple, light and easy to use that even a child can use it.
Voice 3
Plenty of children do use it. In many countries in Africa, including Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, children in their early teens or younger have been forced or tricked into fighting wars with this weapon.
Invite students to say if they have heard of conflicts or incidents in different parts of the world where an AK47 has been used. Here is a non-exhaustive list of places where the weapon has been used that students may be aware of:
- In fighting in many states of Africa
- In fighting in South America
- In fighting in the Middle East
- In the Beslan siege
- In the Vietnam war
- In the troubles in Northern Ireland
- When athletes were shot dead at the 1972 Olympics in Munich
- When Osama Bin Laden was videoed or photographed
- In Iraq, by police and insurgents
- By criminal gang members in the United States
Voice 1
It is, perhaps, in some of the poorest countries of the world that the weapon is most visible. When you see television pictures of militias riding around in pick-up trucks, pointing guns at civilians and imposing their will on local people, they are almost always carrying AK47s. In some African countries, it has been possible to buy an assault rifle for less than 30 US dollars, or exchange one for a sack of maize. It is said that there are many children in parts of Africa called Kalash – an indication of the how familiar the weapon is.
Voice 2
One reason that Kalashnikovs are so easily available is that once law and order breaks down in a country, and informal militias or rebels arm themselves, others feel they have to be armed in the same way. That includes opposition groups wanting to fight, as well as ordinary families wanting to protect themselves.
Voice 3
Following the coalition invasion Iraq in 2003, the authorities tried to enforce a gun-control law. Their aim was a maximum of one AK47 in any household. Many Iraqis disagreed, feeling that some families needed two, one for the house and one for travelling.
Voice 1
Think about that in our own communities. How would we respond if the criminal justice system broke down, and a small number of heavily armed people could force their will on others? How can the police maintain law and order if criminals are better armed than they are?
Voice 2
Sometimes, authorities take action against rebels by buying large numbers of weapons themselves and distributing them to government troops or others. That increases the number of AK47s in circulation. It means some are likely to fall into the hands of the original rebels, and make the situation far more dangerous for everyone.
Voice 3
One writer has pointed out that once the Kalashnikov is introduced into a society it is very difficult to remove. "It is like a virus that infects and reinfects its host: the illness it causes is conflict."
Voice 1
Fortunately, there are treatments for the virus of small arms and light weapons. There are people working towards solutions. For instance, much of the trade in small arms and light weapons begins as part of a legal trade in arms – but ends up as illegal trafficking.
Voice 2
That's why states are working together to agree that arms must be strictly controlled, in order to prevent weapons like the AK47 ending up where they are likely to be used to cause death and injury and breaking international law.
Voice 3
Of course, that does not remove the millions of weapons already in circulation. That problem can be partly tackled by controls on the availability of ammunition. The shelf-life of ammunition is shorter than the useful lives of the weapons themselves. Cartridges get used up. Cutting the supply of new ammunition can reduce deaths and injuries caused by weapons.
Voice 1
Another approach is to increase the training of military and security forces in applying international humanitarian law – the law of war and conflicts. Soldiers in regular armies are taught how to use weapons legally. But as we have seen, the weapons circulate freely well beyond regular soldiers.
Voice 2
It is easier to learn how to fire a Kalashnikov than to learn the laws of war. More people who carry weapons need to know about humanitarian law. They, and those commanding them, need to know that breaches of international humanitarian law will be prosecuted and that offenders will be held accountable for their actions.
Voice 3
Finally, experts recognise that we need to help increase people's personal security by means other than weapons. That means working towards open and respected police and criminal justice systems. The way to solve problems is to use the law, not the gun.
Voice 1
Mikhail Kalashnikov is now over 80 years old. He is dismayed when he sees the misuse of the weapon he devised. He is often quoted as saying that he wishes he had used his technological and engineering skills in a different way – for instance, he says he wishes he had invented a lawn mower.
Voice 2
However, the AK47 and other weaponry are here. They cannot be uninvented. But we can challenge their misuse, with agreed controls, laws and education.
End of performance
The subject of AK47s and weapons offers natural opportunities for enhancing the assembly performance – particularly with sound or vision. There are many images and sounds around. Use them thoughtfully, to communicate or to inform or to stimulate, while avoiding any sense of glorification that can attach to weapons.
Vetting websites before directing students to them is a particularly good idea for this topic.
Sound and music add-on
Many songs mention AK47s, particularly raps. Use such songs carefully, as some glorify the gun, linking it with testosterone-filled aggression and misogyny.
Perhaps more useful are those designed to promote gun control – the music of Emmanuel Jal, for instance. Jal, himself once a child soldier, has used his music to try to reduce suffering of children in conflicts. See the follow-on activity below for details.
Students could compile their own soundtracks, for playing before, during and after the assembly.
Picture add-on
A section in the assembly is ideal for revealing a photograph of the AK47, so students can see what the gun looks like. Download the powerpoint of photos of the gun, and pick a suitable one. Use the other photos to help with discussions as students prepare to give the assembly, or in follow-up activities.
Also explore the different official and semi-official uses that the distinctive shape of the weapon has been adopted for. For instance, the Kalashnikov forms part of the official flag of Mozambique. Look too at the flag of the Lebanese-based group, Hezbollah.
Invite students to find copies of these on the internet, and add other versions of the weapon's outline that they discover. Any of these can be thoughtfully used to show how much the gun has become a cultural symbol across the globe.
Internet research add-on
There is a mass of readily available information about Kalashnikovs on the internet. If students are interested and have time, encourage them to embellish the outline assembly performance with their own findings and results of their exploration.
Use these follow-up activities to look in more depth at weapons. Share the ideas with other teachers who may wish to cover the topic in their lessons after the assembly.
Other uses for an AK47 follow-up
What would students do with an AK47? In 2006, a Colombian musician, César López, devised the “escopetarra”. That is his word for an AK47 converted into a guitar.
López, a peace activist, designed the escopetarra after he noticed how security guards carried their guns in exactly the same way that he carried his guitar. He made one and used it for performing songs, from an AK47 previously used by a paramilitary group in Colombia.
He sold one escopetarra for US$17,000 in a fundraising event held to benefit the victims of anti-personnel mines. Another was exhibited at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.
What would students do with an escopetarra? Invite them to think of ways to spread messages of education and arms control. To what other use might they convert some of the world's millions of AK47s?
There is a picture of César López and the escopetarra in the powerpoint.
Trace the journey follow-up
AK47 inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov once said: "When I watch TV and see small arms of the AK family in the hands of bandits, I keep asking myself: how did those people get hold of them?"
Use the internet to work out some answers to Kalashnikov's question. How did AK47s get into Afghanistan and Pakistan, the former Yugoslavia, or various African or South American states? Split into groups and invite students to find out some known or alleged journeys of the weapons and mark them on a map.
Talk about how illegal transfers of weapons might be disrupted.
Worse than weapons? follow-up
Kalashnikov's name is mainly associated with his weapon. But that is not the only bit of merchandise that carries it.
In 2004 a company began promoting Kalashnikov vodka. Mikail Kalashinkov was involved, as honorary chair of the Kalashnikov Joint Stock Vodka company.
But in the UK, the drinks industry's voluntary watchdog, the Portman Group, told retailers not to stock it. It said the Kalashnikov name indirectly suggested an association with violent and dangerous behaviour. This was not appropriate for an alcoholic drink.
Discuss these concerns. Do students think they are justified? If they had to rename Kalashnikov vodka for sale in the UK, what name would they give it?
Discuss other products named after weapons. Have students heard of Colt 45 – both a beer and a gun? A series of films starring Clint Eastwood called the .44 Magnum "the most powerful handgun in the world". But cinema goers can now eat a Magnum ice cream while watching movies. Do students think these associations glamorise weapons? Can they think of other merchandise which derives in some way from small arms?
Look at another product for sale – the Kalashnikov MP3 player. This was invented by Andrey Koltakov, who is quoted as saying: "Hopefully, from now on many militants and terrorists will use their AK47s to listen to music and audio books. They need to chill out and take it easy."
Do students think he is joking? Is the AK-MP3 a responsible product? Do students think it plays on the glamour of the gun? Do they think it matters if it does?
Child soldier turned campaigner follow-up
Emmanuel Jal is a former Sudanese child soldier very familiar with the AK47. He fought with one when he was just nine years old. He is now a rapper and musician and has appeared on public platforms working for peace.
Using websites such as those listed below, invite students to research his life and his current activities.
See Emmanuel Jal on You Tube.
Listen to a BBC audio documentary about Emmanuel Jal.
This resource and other free educational materials are available at redcross.org.uk/education