Colt announced that it will halt its production of AR-15 rifles for civilian sales on Thursday, but the news might not be as exciting for gun control advocates as it first appears.

The rifle continues to be one of the most popular weapons on the market today, and there are many other manufacturers customers can turn to, said Mark Oliva, director of public affairs at the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

"The AR-15 market is very crowded and very competitive," Oliva said. "There are also a lot of people who are making AR-15s on small scale."

The foundation estimates that there are about 16 million AR-15s in civilians' hands today.

CJ Calesa, the manager at a gun store in Alabama called Southeastern Guns, said Colt's decision will hardly make a difference for the industry.

"Colt's a small market of AR-15s," Calesa said. "There are so many companies out there producing just as [good] quality or better quality ARs for the same price or cheaper."

He said people who are well-versed in the world of AR-15s are going to know that there are other options out there. In his shop alone, he sells the gun from about 30 different manufacturers.

Colt said its decision to stop selling the gun to civilians was driven by the market.

"The fact of the matter is that over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity. Given this level of manufacturing capacity, we believe there is adequate supply for modern sporting rifles for the foreseeable future," President and CEO of Colt Dennis Veilleux said in a statement Thursday.

While sales of the rifle usually go up after mass shootings because policymakers say they will consider greater restrictions, that hasn't been the case under the Trump administration, said Timothy Lytton, an associate dean at Georgia State University and author of the book "Suing the Gun Industry."

"If we see a new administration, that is likely to advance an agenda that includes further gun control measures ... you're likely to see a spike in the demand," Lytton said.