The number of AK-47-type guns appearing in the United States appears to be on the rise, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), obtained by The Associated Press. The number of such guns recorded after being associated with a crime appeared to rise even during a federal ban on assault weapons and has continued to climb since its expiration. Since 1993, the year before the ban took affect, ATF has recorded a more than sevenfold increase in 7.62x39mm guns — which includes the original Russian-made AK-47 and a variety of copycats from around the world. The number of AK-type guns rose from 1,140 in 1993 to 8,547 last year. Since 2005, the first full year after the ban's expiration, ATF has recorded an 11 percent increase in such tracings. The bureau says the increases in the first half of the 1990s are partly the result of wider usage of its weapons database by local law enforcement agencies. Rises after that reflect a real increase in tracings of AK-type guns, the agency said. AK-47-type guns are well-known across the world, with an estimated 250,000 people killed by some form of the gun each year. More than 75 million are believed to be in existence. In Iraq, congressional investigators estimate 110,000 AKs bought by the U.S. for security forces there cannot be accounted for. Most of the AKs on American streets are semiautomatic, meaning they fire as fast as the gunman can squeeze the trigger. Fully automatic ones release a burst of fire with each pull of the trigger.
