You could buy any LE model from Colt, you don't have to be in LE and anyone could buy it.
Same thing happened to me about a couple of years ago when I bought my Colt 6721 AR-15A3 Tactical Carbine from my local dealer, the salesperson told me that Colts are not very reliable and there are better brands that they sell.
I told the salesperson that that's news to me because I didn't have any problems with the many Colt models that I had for more than thirty years.
The salesperson handed me over to another sales guy that ordered my 6721, at that time they're in great demand and short supply (same thing now), I waited about six week before I got it.
Colt is the most reliable brand according to carbine instructors and they have the most Mil-spec features except for the large trigger and hammer pins (but that's no problem, plenty of available pins even from many other manufacturers), take a look at this chart of major AR brands.
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=6642
YMMV
AR-15 SP1 owner since 1971
NRA and CRPA life member
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