"High power", "Assault rifle" and "weapons of war" are all misnomers applied to the AR15

Assault rifle: I actually chose to use that definition because it's more accurate to the assault rifles we have now, and it's a little more definitive. Because according to your definition, a Ruger Mini-14 is an assault weapon. It has high-capacity magazines and is based off the M14, which is a military rifle, now the military has never touched the Mini-14, but by your definition, it's an assault rifle, which simply isn't true. My definition is more definitive in the matter that it matches the modern assault rifles we have today. The very first assault rifle ever, the StG 44, was capable of semi-auto or full-auto fire, effective up to 600meters and utilised an intermediate cartridge(1). And wiki just so happens to share the thought on my previous definition . "An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle or carbine typically firing ammunition with muzzle energies and sizes intermediate between those of handgun and more traditional high-powered rifle ammunition. Assault rifles are categorized between light machine guns, intended more for sustained automatic fire in a support role, and submachine guns, which fire a handgun cartridge rather than a rifle cartridge. Assault rifles are the standard small arms in most modern armed forces, having largely replaced or supplemented larger, more powerful rifles, such as the World War II-era M1 Garand and Tokarev SVT. Belt-fed weapons or rifles with very limited capacity fixed magazines are generally not considered assault rifles. Semi-automatic rifles are not always classified as assault rifles as they are not fully automatic and some are not designed for military use. However, in media firearms reporting the term "assault rifle" usually refers to visual appearance rather than internal functionality. Similar full sized weapons, with full-auto capabilities chambered in full-sized rifle rounds, are known as Battle rifles. Examples of Battle Rifles are the FN FAL, H&K G3 and M14 rifle. "(2) So, in other words, there's no way a stricly semi-automatic firearms can be considered an assault rifle. I could list the next 50 assault rifles created after the StG 44, and they would all be capable of selective fire. The definition you stated for assault rifle simply doesn't match with what history has forged. High-powered: Your previous comparison of the bow and arrow was with kinetic energy, not accuracy and reload speed, in which case, muskets still prevail. The ability to kill cannot be grounds for the definition of high-power, because all bullets fired from all types of firearms can kill you. You have yet to show how the AR15 is high-powered relative to another rifle of it's category (semi-automatics, but you can compare it to an assault rifle I guess.). It isn't high-powered because it doesn't fire a full powered rifle cartridge. Weapon of war: First off, I highly doubt they have been used in third world conflicts for 2 reasons. 1, they're not sought out as the primary, go-to, overthrow the government rifle. That would be the AK-47, because they're cheaper and there are plenty available on the black market.(3) If a government were going to arm it's troops, it would buy they M16, because it can. And semi-auto saving ammo sounds like a good theory until people start shooting you wiht a fully automatic. Then it makes you reconsider. 1.https://en.wikipedia.org... 2.https://en.wikipedia.org.... 3.http://en.wikipedia.org...