“Assault rifle” actually does have a proper definition, but it has been misused so often that, in practice, most people using that label are trying to communicate the same thing as “assault weapon”. In reality, an assault rifle must have certain criteria, such as “select fire” functionality that lets the user switch from semi-auto to full-auto mode — but those features are already very strictly controlled by law, so very few civilians actually have an assault rifle.
Bureau of Sabotage