A lot of people see AR-15 and think that the AR stands for assault rifle , it doesn’t. It stands for armalite rifle , the company that makes them. They are a semi auto. A true assault rifle like the military uses are able to switch from a semi auto to full automatic. Full automatics are banned from sale to civilians.
That depends on the source of the definition doesn't it? The US Assault Weapons Ban (1994) even includes semi-automatic weapons in the definition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban#Definition_of_assault_weaponBut the fact is that AR-15 was designed and developed as a military weapon with high velocity rounds, capable of being fitted with large capacity magazines, and with the purpose of killing people.
Sure it is only semi-automatic, but in a normal sport shooting situation, why do you need a semi automatic rifle? and especially one that can be fitted with such a large capacity magazine. Yes you can bring out the old argument that they are more effective when culling feral animals in large numbers, but in reality there are only a handful of people that do that. And
IF the argument was valid in that kind of situation, then there should be a totally distinct license for those scenarios, with very restricted access to such weapons by professionals only. Simply no need for them in sport shooting at all.
The Aussie SLR (L1A1) was only a semi-auto (without the legendary match stick mod)