"Gun ownership is a normal way of life. Now, everyone thinks that it's used just as a weapon, rather than as a sporting tool or a way to put food on the table,"
Yes, I do remember seeing the Olympic sport shooters with AR-15s now you mention it. Not a gun guy, but it does seem like a super practical weapon to be hunting with as well.
There is nothing in the current law that prohibits anybody from shooting animals to put food on the table. If you are such a terrible shot that you need to unload an AR15 magazine into a goat or a boar you should not be hunting in the first place.
Wild hogs come in droves and they are extremely skittish. An AR is probably one of the best firearms for hogs if you need to control a population of them, actually. Accuracy is moot at around ~100yds and it's about putting down as many hogs as you can in the few seconds you have.
When used properly, AR is an extremely versatile weapon. It's lightweight, easy to maintain and can be configured for quite a few hunting situations.
Olympic shooting is about accuracy, not a round's effect on the target, that is why they now use .22 caliber or air powered. .22s and air guns are less regulated worldwide, so more countries can compete. They used to use larger caliber firearms but have gone the way they have because it makes things more competitive.
"Sport" shooting is recreational shooting. So going out to a range and putting holes in paper for fun is sport shooting. Sport shooting is also competitive non-olympic shooting competitions like 2 or 3 gun, where you are competing for time to hit a number of targets while moving using a pistol, rifle, and shotgun.
As far as hunting with a semi-auto goes, it isn't really all that advantageous unless you are doing pest control for large numbers of animals, like a team of hogs. You can't usually shoot more than one game animal in a short period of time, so faster successive shots isnt needed.