The Left wastes no time weighing in on, what else? ARs.
This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. We’ve postponed our interview with former Hollywood stunt man and director of the new film “The Fall Guy” so that we can address what’s on everybody’s mind right now – the attempted assassination of former President Trump and the other victims of the shooter. Two were seriously injured. One was killed. The shooter used an AR-15, an assault weapon that has become the preferred weapon of mass shooters.
My guest, Todd Frankel, wrote about how the civilian rifle was adapted from the military combat automatic rifle, the M-6, and how with the help of clever marketing and lobbying, the AR-15 has become a huge moneymaker for the gun industry, and icon of gun culture, a favored weapon for perpetrators of mass shootings, and a flash point in the debate about guns in America. Frankel was the lead reporter on the main story of a Washington Post investigation into the history of the AR-15. The series won a Pulitzer Prize this year for national reporting. Frankel is an enterprise reporter on the financial desk of the Post. We’re going to hear the interview we recorded this morning. Then we’ll dive deeper into the gun’s history and current place in gun culture and listen back to the interview we recorded last year when the AR-15 series was published.
Todd Frankel, welcome back to FRESH AIR. What was your reaction when we heard the shooter used an AR-15?
By Terry Gross
