My primary hunting rifle is an AR-15 type rifle chambered in 300 BLK that I built back when it was still a new round and a lot of folks were saying it wouldn't take off, but there is definitely something amiss with American gun culture these days. I don't think it is necessarily related to the guns themselves, but more to how we were in a state of war for twenty years up until just recently and the associated idolisation of military culture. Combine that with the expiration of the AWB of 1994 and here we are. To me, my rifle is a more practical tool for hunting than the rifles my grandparents and great grandparents used. It has uses for defending my family, yes, but I recognize that that likelihood is an outlier and don't ever expect to use it for anything other than hunting. To others, however, the same rifle is something fetishisized and it's like they almost hope to have a chance to use it to kill someone.