Recent sanctions on Russia have put trade ties with the U.S. in a deep freeze. The two countries’ robust trade in Kalashnikovs—or AK-47s—has also taken a hit. The American company RWC, you see, had to halt its imports of the assault rife and cut off contact with their Russian manufacturer.
RWC CEO Thomas McCrossin told CNN while the company—the official importer and distributor of the rifles in the U.S.—still has some stock on the shelves from before the sanctions kicked in last summer, RWC has a plan for when they run out: Make the Kalashnikovs at home and slap a “Made in the U.S.A.” tag on them. “In the second quarter of this year we are going to start manufacturing here in the U.S.,” McCrossin told CNN. “What I’m manufacturing are our own AK-47s and shotguns under the Kalashnikov brand.”
