Personal ownership of any firearm is governed by the laws of
that state or country- and we get inquiries from several countries.
In the US, a private citizen CAN own a milspec rifle- however,
since the M16 series of rifles is capable of full auto fire, they
are classed as machineguns. Only those machineguns already
registered with the BATFE by May 1986 can be transferred to a
private citizen. The M4 carbine was created after that date, so an
individual cannot legally possess one.