True, but you have to remember that until relatively recently, the idea of owning a 556/223 AR platform was pretty far out of the mainstream. People who liked

True, but you have to remember that until relatively recently, the idea of owning a 556/223 AR platform was pretty far out of the mainstream. People who liked guns hunted, and or owned things in calibers that overlapped between hunting and the military (think .308). They had revolvers, or full metal frame pocket pistols for self defense. The standard today would be something like a glock 19 (plastic frame, 19 rounds of hollow point, small size) carried concealed in an appendix holster. Now often with a red dot sight and a rail mounted tactical light. There are dozens and dozens of AR (using the term very broadly) manufacturers out there today, pushing everything from systems designed for suppressed cqb (think short barreled suppressed .300 blackout) to long range precision shooting (ar-10/6.5 cm). These kind of options, and the hobbies/communities they enable, didn't exist at the consumer level even 10 years ago. The inflection point seems to be the sunset of the assault weapons ban, but it took quite a bit of time for this stuff to become mainstream. The old guard supported by a base of hunters and sport shooters is aging out, and not growing anywhere near as fast as this new generation. The needs (and opinions) of someone out on regular elk hunts range pretty far from someone who wants a firearm for self defense.