Editing AK-47 (section)

=== Illicit trade ===
{{see also|Crime in Russia#Arms trafficking}}
[[File:Somalimerirosvojen rynnäkkökiväärejä Maneesi.JPG|thumb|AK-47 copies confiscated from Somali pirates by Finnish mine-layer {{ship|Finnish minelayer|Pohjanmaa||2}} during [[Operation Atalanta]], photographed in Manege Military Museum. The stocks are missing on the top three AKs.]]

Throughout the world, the AK and its variants are commonly used by governments, revolutionaries, terrorists, criminals, and civilians alike. In some countries, such as Somalia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Congo, and Tanzania, the prices for Black Market AKs are between $30 and $125 per weapon and prices have fallen in the last few decades due to mass counterfeiting.<ref name="ControlArms" /> In Kenya, "an AK-47 fetches five head of cattle (about 10,000 Kenya shillings or 100 US dollars) when offered for barter, but costs almost half that price when cash is paid".<ref name="van Schendel" /> There are places around the world where AK-type weapons can be purchased on the [[black market]] "for as little as $6, or traded for a chicken or a sack of grain".<ref name="ECOSOCDEV" /><ref name="UNCHR" /><ref name="Kabbani" />

The AK-47 has also spawned a cottage industry of sorts and has been copied and manufactured (one gun at a time) in small shops around the world (see [[Khyber Pass Copy]]).<ref name="Santos" /><ref name="smallarmssurvey-1" /> The estimated numbers of AK-type weapons vary greatly. The Small Arms Survey suggests that "between 70 and 100&nbsp;million of these weapons have been produced since 1947".<ref name="smallarmssurvey-2" /> The World Bank estimates that out of the 500&nbsp;million total firearms available worldwide, 100&nbsp;million are of the Kalashnikov family, and 75&nbsp;million are AK-47s.<ref name="k3" /> Because AK-type weapons have been made in many countries, often illicitly, it is impossible to know how many exist.<ref name="Graves-Brown" />