So far in this thread we have one AR with a faux grenade launcher, one guy that has his to kill an unamed group of people, one guy profiling like Dillinger with a pair of Thompsons on his hip, a girl just ripping of rounds into the forest, and a guy that is practicing killing things before he goes back to the combat zone and someone has the audacity to put someone down because they look like assault weapon to them or don't feel they are a true sporting weapon. Talk about narrrow minded.
AWS
I use my firearms, bolt guns and AR's, to hunt predators and big game with. I carried an AR for several years while on patrol and needed to stay as familiar as possible if I ever had to use it on duty.
When others think of AR's as an assualt rifle they likely don't know the true description of such. AR's are rapidly becoming the hottest thing out there for hunting and it's proven by the back order logs that all AR manufactures are facing these days while bolt guns sit in the gun racks collecting dust.
Most are just as accurate as any out of the box bolt gun available to the consumer and switching calibers is a 15 second snap, probably the best part of the AR platform is being able to build it yourself rather than sending the firearm off to a gunsmith for a new barrel or caliber change.
What I find interesting is when we as sportsmen are so narrow minded to call a bolt gun a true sporting rifle and a semi auto rifle, an "assualt weapon". Those kinds of liberal remarks are truely working against everything we as sportsmen are trying to work for.
What about guys that have "sniper" looking rifles built for hunting, are they playing out a dream of being another Carlos Hathcock? Well, I certainly hope not. Why would anyone want a 338 Lapua with a 32" barrel and detachable 20 round mag on a bolt gun just to hunt whitetailed deer? Maybe they just happen to like the way it looks. I happen to like the look, but I wouldn't choose that particular setup for hunting, it's way too heavy and awkward for my style of hunting. But I don't think they are sneaking around in the bushes to whack some poor farmer at 1500 yards.
Call'em what you want, I'm not old school, I like the way the AR's handle. I don't use them to impress anyone and no one should judge a person from a photo placed on a website. Many sportsmen don't agree with the gangsta' look but I'm sure he was just foolin' around when the photo was taken. Poor choice of photo maybe, but I'll hold judgement on the character of the individual.
Enjoy the sport, it probably won't be around forever, way too many liberals out there.