The decision to remove Rifles was made by the team in favor of the majority of the community. Whigs and Tories has always been advertised as a line battle mod, and we're going to keep it as such for the forseeable future. The majority of the regiments in the mod are line infantry, and the way rifles are played is countering the way that the mod is meant to be played. The accuracy difference between the line infantry, and even the LIGHT infantry would be too great when compared to riflemen, they'd simply be overpowered when it comes to LB's, especially when tight packed formations are required to cause damage in LB's. Now yes, historically that's what happened, large fluffly blobs of red meat to shoot at. This is a mod, however, and the gameplay and opinion of the community are what matters.
While I'm a personal advocate for riflemen, I can see why Marks want's them to remain out of the mod for the time being. It's something we all need to get used to.