AK-47: The Jamaican rapper

Guns and violence often feature in Vybz Kartel's music

All this week, BBC World Service's The World Today programme is looking at the stories behind one of the world's most iconic weapons, the AK-47.

Throughout the week we will be speaking to the people who trade in it, the people who carry it, and the people whose lives have been affected by it.

RAPPER, JAMAICA

Vybz Kartel is a controversial rapper and one of Jamaica's biggest dancehall reggae stars

The AK-47 weapon is the weapon of choice of criminals and gunmen in Jamaica.

It is the most recovered weapon by the police recovering rifles. Maybe it is easy to access in the foreign country it originated from.

THE AK-47 Stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947 Designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov while wounded in hospital - though he later said he wished he invented the lawnmower instead Produced in greater numbers than any other 20th-Century assault rifle Fires 600 rounds a minute Estimated 70-100m in the world The AK47 has spawned many derivatives, such as the Chinese-manufactured Type 56 AK-47: Iconic weapon The Colombian guerrilla The child soldier

Another popular rifle is the M-16. It is the rifle of the military and police in Jamaica, so it would be a harder rifle to come by.

A rifle like that would draw more attention to a criminal. The police would hunt and seek to recover that one, because they would want to know if it's one of theirs.

In Jamaica I don't think that gun can be applied for legally - I don't think one can own an AK-47 firearm.

And where Vybz Kartel and firearms are concerned, I stay on the legal side of things.

But I know that in order for an AK-47 to be in Jamaica, it would have to come through the ports of entry. So I guess that would be a question for the government.

Gun violence in Jamaica is a cause for concern. With the [increase in the number of] guns you're gonna have violence, you're gonna have death, casualties.

These are things that tear communities apart.

If you are talking about Jamaica's gun violence and the causes of crime and violence, I would say economic conditions, poor living conditions and the building up of garrison communities - and unemployment.

So it is a lot of things. When I'm in Jamaica, I personally always roll with a friend of mine, who is a policeman. People say that he's my bodyguard, but you know, only females guard my body.

I never really see anyway why I would want to own a rifle.

Vybz Kartel always give a vivid description of the crime and violence in Jamaica through my music, because of what I see.

AK-47 is broadcast on BBC World Service's World Today programme every day from 4 to 8 December, 2005, at 0205 GMT.