You should own at least one, just to pi55 off the gun-grabbers if nothing else.
You can get a very decent AR for under $500 these days, especially if you don't mind assembling a parts kit into a stripped lower receiver.
I got a Palmetto State Armory carbine kit with a completely assembled upper that included a free float M-Loc handguard, a lower parts kit with enhanced polished trigger group, and Magpul buttstock and pistol grip for under $400, and combined it with an Anderson stripped lower I picked up at a gun show for $39.
Because of the completely pre-assembled upper, the only specialized tool I needed to buy to build the rifle was a castle nut wrench to secure the buffer tube. Everything else dropped in with regular punches and a drift hammer. (Hardest part was the bolt catch roll pin, but I got it in without resorting to a specialized bolt catch roll pin punch.)
Oh. I know how to puss off gun grabbers. Unfortunately there was that canoe accident.