My AR is not a military long arm.
Of course, before I say that we must agree on the definition of the term "military long arm".
The way I see it my M1 Garand is (or at least used to be) a military long arm. My AR is not and never was.
Long Gun: "The term long gun is used to describe classes of firearm and cannon with longer barrels than other classes. In small arms, a long gun is designed to be fired braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun...".
Small Arms: "Small arms is a term of art used by armed forces to denote infantry weapons an individual soldier may carry. The description is usually limited to revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, battle rifles, multiple barrel firearms, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, light machine guns (i.e. M60), and sometimes hand grenades. Shotguns, general-purpose machine guns, medium machine guns, and grenade launchers may be considered small arms or as support weapons, depending on the particular armed forces."
AR15: "The select-fire AR-15 entered the US military system as the M16 rifle. Colt then marketed the Colt AR-15 as a semi-automatic version of the M16 rifle for civilian sales in 1963."
Again, how are we really having this converstation over such a basic definition? And, how can we ever have a more serious one if so? Heck, we can barely have this convesation within the pro-gun camp of this forum/thread.
Utility or Sporting Rifle is fine by me. However, it's semantics IMO. For the anti-gun camp it will mean the same thing.