The "AR" in AR-15 does not stand for "Assault Rifle" or "Automatic Rifle."

It actually stands for "ArmaLite Rifle," which is named after ArmaLite, the company that developed the AR-15. The "AR" comes from the name of ArmaLite, not from the military's designation for "assault rifle" or "automatic rifle." "AR" and "assault rifle" are not interchangeable terms.<br><br>The term "assault rifle" is a particular type of select-fire weapon, typically chambered in an intermediate cartridge (like 5.56mm or 7.62x39 mm). This term originated in Germany after WWII, using the term "Sturmgewehr" which consisted of two words: "Sturm" (assault) and "Gewehr" (rifle). The US Military has since used "assault rifle" to describe automatic and select-fire infantry weapons that are chambered in an intermediate cartridge.<br><br>The AR-15 is a type of semi-automatic rifle that is derived from early select-fire designs. It is not an assault rifle, as it is not automatic or select-fire. The term "assault rifle" and "AR" are often misused and misunderstood. The term "assault weapon" is a legally defined term that was created in the 1990s to describe semi-automatic weapons with certain features. It has since been used by anti-gun politicians to mislead the general public about firearms.<br><br>If you type "AR-15 assault rifle" or "AR-15 assault weapon" into Google, it will give you results for the semi-automatic, civilian version of the AR-15. This has further confused the constant debate on gun control in the US. It's very important to know proper terminology when it comes to firearms, especially in this day and age. Educate yourself and educate others on the proper terminology and the difference between semi-auto and auto/select-fire weapons.<br><br>tl;dr: "AR" stands for "ArmaLite Rifle" and "assault rifle" is a legally defined term that was created by the Germans and later used by the US Military. While "assault weapon" is a term used to describe semi-automatic firearms in a certain configuration.<br><br>Edit: I should have used the term "intermediate cartridge" instead of "intermediate power cartridge" to avoid confusion.