NBC published this photo of Osama Bin Laden’s AK that is housed in the CIA museum. The rifle is completely unremarkable. It is no different to the millions of other AKMS specimens in use all over the world and, at least to my eye, reveals nothing about its owner. It lacks any (visible) inscriptions, engravings or gold/chrome coatings. It is in good condition but the gun was sure to have been cleaned by USSOCOM armorers.

It was probably not the only gun belonging to Osama found in the compound where he was killed. He may have had a stash of golden guns a la. Saddam Hussein, or some interesting inscribed guns given to him by other fanatics. The government has done a good job of suppressing information about him that could be used as propaganda by any terrorist groups. Maybe in a decade or two we will see the rest of Bin Laden’s stash (his gun stash, not his porn stash), or maybe he simply did not care for guns and was happy for his bodyguards to do any necessary trigger work.

Many thanks to Harter for the tip.