Either that bacon tastes like gunpowder or that barrel will forever smell like bacon when he shoots it in the future, no matter how much he cleans it (or both). Probably not the most cost effective way to cook bacon.
A well maintained and in-spec AR is phenomenal. Jim Bob's AR he bought on sale from BCA is going to be a piece of shit. (I had one of their bolts dissolve on me once.)
The tricky bit is getting one that is actually in-spec. The original blueprints are good, but the way they are laid out gives manufacturers too much wiggle room and can be a bit more difficult to read. This leads to a slew of problems when you have people jamming together random bits from different sources.
It's a versatile weapon and I like them when properly engineered and properly maintained. It absolutely isn't the end-all-be-all and it's embarrassing to see it in the hands of idiots who just want to make a political statement.