U.S. Sanctions on Russia Cause Kalashnikov Rifle Price Surge

Here’s an interesting result of America’s
economic sanctions on Russia: The demand for Kalashnikov rifles (of
AK-47 fame) has skyrocketed and average price for one has more than
doubled since an import ban on one major producer took effect
earlier this year.

The Moscow Times
reported earlier this week:

Kalashnikov Concern, the company that produces
the most popular line of civilian-use Kalashnikov rifles,
the Saiga, was blacklisted by the U.S. in July.
By September, U.S. distributors reported that their stocks
of genuine Russian-made Kalashnikovs had been cleared.

“As a result, an active resale market
for Kalashnikovs has arisen,” Russia’s new trade
representative to the U.S., Alexander Stadnik, said in an
interview published Tuesday by news agency TASS, Though there
are several non-Russian Kalashnikovs still available in the
U.S., American gun owners want the real thing, he added.

Stadnik said the average price of a Kalashnikov rifle
in the U.S. on the resale market has already hit $1,500,
compared to its previous off-the-shelf price of $600.

Even before the U.S. imposed sanctions against
the Kalashnikov Concern, the largest Russian manufacturer
of the iconic weapons, consumer demand in the U.S.
for Kalashnikov rifles exceeded supply by almost 200
percent.

Sales of civilian Kalashnikov rifles made up about 50
percent of Kalashnikov Concern’s sales before sanctions.

The ban, which took effect July 17, is part President Barack
Obama’s Executive
Order 13662, which was issued in response to Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine. Later in July, the U.S. and E.U.
shifted its policy from narrow, targeted sanctions against
Vladimir Putin’s cronies to broader, industry-wide ones after the
shooting down a passenger plane carrying nearly 300 civilians, a
crime Russian-backed forces are
believed to be responsible for. Obama continues to pile more
sanctions on Russia, and recently lauded his actions as the

“only reason” there’s a ceasefire in Ukraine.  

But, what are you to do if you want an authentic Russian weapon
these days? The Times notes that another Kalashnikov
manufacturer, Molot, has not been hit by sanctions, so their guns
are still available. And, the Kalashnikov Concern weapons already
in the U.S. before the ban are safe. Alternatively,
courtesy of none other than Mother Jones, you can
learn how to build your own legal, untraceable AK-47.