The one on the left is a varmint rifle by Remington, the R15, and is on Feinstein's list. Remington lists that rifle a few ways. As a Predator rifle, as an Autoloading Rifle, and as a Modular Repeating Rifle. How's that for choice of words.
The mechanics of it are like most AR's dating back to Vietnam, and I think M4 is a common name for the carbine, which means 16" barrel. These 'varmint' models come in 18 or so, up to 20 and 22 inches, and are made for accuracy with better barrel and how it's mounted, but all the mechanics are AR-type and are interchangeable. So much that the phrase 'furniture' is common. Like, a model of an AR that comes with such-and-such furniture. Not very menacing sounding when a gun has 'furniture.' The furniture being special stocks, grips, forends and all that.
The rifle on the right is Ruger's version of a .223, and it's called the Mini-14, though I don't know what 14 means in this case. It's on Feinstein's list also. This is a synthetic stock model with stainless barrel but they've been around in wood and standard rifle black. It can take a magazine, but the bolt action on it is not the same as most ARs. A Ruger of this type is a heavier gun than most AR's and does have other models by name. The wooden one is the Ranch, and this one here is called Target, and one with a modified stock is the Tactical, but you see how you can just have it more as a rifle than an 'assault' weapon.
My father had a Remington semi-automatic .22 with tube fed bullets. My grandfather in Hardin County always hunted with a semi-automatic shotgun. I never thought anything unusual about a semi-automatic long gun.
So the point is that a semi-auto that takes a magazine does not have to look like an assault rifle in movies, or on the news. They can be like a hunting rifle, just automatic and with a magazine.
I still think the Progressive Agenda is using this measure to assert power and control, with the intent to feel emboldened to impose more agendas on the society, all because in their minds it is 'the right way to live.' Agree with the opening post and poster on the thread's topic.
If a strong far-reaching ban were to get through, the banning of the firearms would be the least significant thing accomplished. Far more important would be the very act of being able to do it -- demonstrating by the very act of being able to impose that much power on the society. Any political party that can tamper with the 2nd Amendment is not that many steps from taking away any of the other Bill of Rights or imposing any law or rule of law on the land. THAT is what they really are after but hardly realize it themselves. Those in love with the party can't even see that side of it. But it's there.
And one other point.... everyone uses the images and perceptions of semi-automatic weapon-looking guns to their advantage. Action movies rely on the menacing look to make it work for Arnold and Sly to have one in each hand, barging in on the bad guys. Or guys in jeeps running around Africa or the Mideast. They WANT them to look like 'bad' guns. But then the politicians who want to impose a Progressive Agenda relish in that perception and accentuate it. And assert the term 'assault weapon' when the definition (read the history in Wikipedia) says assault RIFLE years back, and the select fire of auto or burst has to be there to even use the term assault at all.
You might say the Progressive Agenda is built on persuasive journalism, biased charged words and terms, and always fear. It's not political law by gun point and chains, as it is sold with soft words, gentle tones and promises of utopian society, love, fairness, gentleness, intelligence (as in 'we are the SMART party') and on and on and on, but it's political power still delivered with a Mailed Fist, albeit a fluffy one.