Mikhail Kalashnikov, after decades of denying any culpability for the deaths caused by the AK-47, felt profound remorse toward the end of his life:

The inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle apparently wrote to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church before he died expressing fears he was morally responsible for the people it killed.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, who died last month aged 94, wrote a long emotional letter to Patriarch Kirill in May 2012, church officials say.

He said he was suffering “spiritual pain” over the many deaths it caused.

Kalashnikov had previously refused to accept responsibility for those killed.

It does make me wonder how I’ll deal with the end of my life.

As a firmly middle-aged man, my most frequent regret is how few wild oats I sewed during my single days.

Hopefully, my regrets will become more profound as I age, but I’m just not that deep.