So as an eight year old child, did you ever walk into a gun store accompanied by a parent and allowed to break open your piggy bank and allowed to purchase an AR15 and ammo?
I bought guns and ammo far more powerful than those of an AR15 as a child. Some states won't allow hunting with a typical AR15 due to the ammo being to weak to make a reliable kill and lending to wounded animals being left after they run off.
The demonization of an AR15 due to the cosmetics is just silly. Most deer rifles are far more powerful.