Handguns (A-G, H-L, M-Z) | Revolvers | Machine Pistols | Submachine Guns (A-L, M-Z) | Rifles | Assault Rifles (A-H, I-Z) | Battle Rifles | Sniper Rifles | Shotguns | Machine Guns | Autocannons and Rotary Cannons | Flamethrowers | Rockets, Missiles and Grenade Launchers | Others
... (lifts a Jaffa staff weapon) is a weapon of terror. It's made to... intimidate the enemy. (throws staff weapon away) This (lifts the P90) is a weapon of war. It is made to kill your enemy."Submachine guns are automatic carbines which fire pistol-caliber ammunition. Their name, coined by John T. Thompson to classify his famous example, comes from their original purpose and the means by which it was achieved: they were meant to give soldiers the firepower of a machine gun combined with the portability of a rifle, and this was accomplished by basically creating machine guns firing pistol ammo - one of the very first examples from 1895 even was literally a downscaled Maxim gun - hence the "sub" in submachine gun.
Note that these are not to be confused with machine pistols, though there is overlap as both tend to be select-fire weapons firing pistol ammo, and many submachine guns up until about the end of World War II were either named or classified as machine pistols. Generally, submachine guns are considered to be longarms requiring both hands to operate properly, while a machine pistol is more commonly a handgun that just happens to be capable of select-fire.
