Interesting interview - including interesting details about the radicalization of the NRA from what once was an organization representing the interests of gun owners into an organization largely representing the interests of the gun industry (and exploiting anti-government rightwing rhetoric to do so). Also details about how the gun industry/NRA has effectively prevented public analysis of the data on the #’s of assault weapons that have been used in criminal activity. The next time you hear someone saying that assault weapons have not been used in significant numbers to kill kids, call BULLSHIT - because they don’t have the data to back up such statements:

Diaz — who is also the author of the forthcoming book The Last Gun, about changes in the gun industry and gun violence — and his colleagues have conducted extensive research on gun violence in the United States and have written reports on assault weapons, as well as on the National Rifle Association and the corporations that fund it. What gun manufacturers have done to rejuvenate their markets, Diaz tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross, is to emphasize military-derived semi-automatic guns and, in marketing, “appeal to the inner soldier, the insurrectionist feelings and high-tech desires to market these military-style guns.”

npr.org