OK... so I was thinking about this a bit and had a thought. The Big-box stores like Dicks, Field and Stream, Walmart, etc... are quitting the sale of AR15 (and other military style rifles). This could actually be a blessing in disguise.
So, I know from my own personal experiences that I might just as well flip a coin when talking to someone behind the counter in a big box store if they know anything about 'tactical' style rifles. Typically, the shop will have one or maybe two guys who are good at those rifles (and almost always either Law Enforcement or Military backgrounds) and the rest of the staff is made up of hunters and sportsmen working there for a discount. I would rather not get gear in that style from those shops (unless they mark it down way low and don't realize what they did, which has happened a couple of times) and go to a mom-n-pop gun shop where the guys know their way around the weights of a buffer, or differences between Piston vs DI without having to ask 'what's that mean???'. This might, in some ways, be beneficial for those shops, and keep a number of those small business owners afloat.
Let those shops deal with the hunters and sportsmen, since that really is their bread and butter.
Does this make sense to anyone else out there, or is it just me looking for a silver lining on the nasty cloud front passing over?