That's not true.
It was intended to classify any "scary/military" looking rifle as an "assault weapon." The problem is that "scary/military" is difficult to define.
They first tried to ban rifles with certain features (pistol grips, foregrips, grenade launchers, bayonet lugs, etc.) That led to "featureless" AR builds. Then they added removable magazines which spawned the bullet buttons.
The M1 Carbine, Mini-14, Remington M8/M81, etc. were never their focus as they don't look "scary/military" to the casual observer.
Don't worry, those guns are simply farther down the list. Once they get the "scary looking" guns those other automatics that spray just as many bullets just as quickly as the military grade assault rifles will be next