I agree with your sentiments, but you got your facts a bit scrambled. The AR-15 IS the civilian version of the select-fire military rifle...which was originally the M-16, and is now the M-4. I have an AR (which I often think means A$$hole Remover), and didn’t need to do anything else but put down some money to obtain.
Say what you want. I bought my CAR-15 from High Standard , a company that makes both CAR-15s and AR-15s, supplying both government and civilian contracts. The reason I bought one is that ALL of their models have hardened barrels, including the civilian model. The AR -15 is the select fire model. Mine is a simple semi-automatic CAR-15 .
The AR designation makes it military.
If its a publicly available model it can’t be an AR-15, its a CAR-15. The C is for “civilian.”