Arias has acknowledged trying to clean the scene of the killing, dumping the gun in the desert and working on an alibi, even attending a memorial service for Alexander before her arrest in July 2008.

NPR: Prosecutor In Arias Case Set For Closing Arguments

For his new book Gun Guys: A Road Trip, Mr Baum travelled across the US and met a variety of gun owners, from those blasting automatic weapons in the desert to a school teacher hunting pigs.

BBC: Gun control: How a US liberal learned to love guns

This militaristic SUV was the ideological forerunner to the Hummer H1 and was popular among wealthy Saudi sheiks for its ability to conquer desert terrain (it was said the LM002 was designed to accommodate gun turrets for such owners to defend their sheikdoms, but this could not be confirmed).

FORBES: New Info: Maserati and Bentley to Sell SUVs

In December 1998, a group of 16 western tourists, mostly British, was seized at gunpoint on a remote desert road in southern Yemen and taken hostage by fanatical, machine-gun-wielding militants.

BBC: End of an era as Abu Hamza to be extradited