Bullpup rifles were at one time thought to be the wave of the future. But sort of like fusion energy, that future never arrives. In fact, a number of countries that once issued bullpup assault rifles to their troops have gone back to rifles with a more traditional layout. The latest is the U.K. which has finally given up on the SA80 (which was plagued with problems since its initial rollout) and is adopting an AR style rifle--the Knight’s Armament KS1--as a replacement. The article also mentions that the U.K. is sticking to the 5.56 NATO instead of the 6.8×51 (aka, .277 Fury) which has all the makings of being a repeat of the adoption of the M14.
Hob and Brass Facts teamed up to produce the video below discussing why bullpup rifles aren't more popular. The main reasons are (i) they are much more expensive for a quality bullpup, (ii) they don't work well for shooting off irregular barriers such as boulders or the tailgate of a vehicle, and (iii) there isn't enough real estate to hang all your lights, lasers, optics, and so forth, off of them if you are running night vision. Although I've heard complaints from others about slow reloads due to the ergonomics and layout, these two didn't find it to be an issue--at least with the two rifles they were testing. I think that a bullpup makes sense for someone wanting a carbine for home defense because of their compactness. Points (ii) and (iii) are probably not going to be a big issue for most civilian owners. However, point (i) is why I don't have a bullpup rifle of my own.
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