I know a gun nut and he opined that that term is a media term - but he's not from the Anglosphere so maybe it is. BUT - the MSM and their zombies are calling *everything* that "looks scary" an "assault rifle", and the general populace somehow connects automatic weapons from computer games with that, at least that's what I saw again and again.

So to them, a AR-15 is one of those things out of Unreal Tournament or whatever kids play these days...