Thread:LunaRaven7/@comment-25160154-20131205100942/@comment-16609412-20131205110542

Alright, fine. Although your message leads me to believe otherwise, (you said that you conducted a discussion and decided on machine pistols as the better fit.) I'm going to assume this is about the classification of StormFlower as an SMG.

So, here, I'll state my argument.

A submachine gun is classified as "An automatic carbine designed to fire pistol cartridges."

While StormFlower is indeed an automatic weapon, it is not a carbine.

A carbine is a type of long arm (a class of shoulder-braced, rifle-like weapons), that is pretty much a slight step down from a rifle in terms of barrel length, average cartridge size, etc.

StormFlower doesn't really come close to fitting the description of a carbine. It's not meant to be shoulder braced/fired, nor does it have the barrel length to justify classing it as a long arm. In addition, it has a pistol loading mechanism (magazine in the grip of the gun, allowing for unassisted one-handed magazine discharge), as opposed to a carbine/rifle loading mechanism.

However, if we look at the classification of a machine pistol:

"A handgun style, magazine-fed, self-loading firearm built up from a semi-automatic pistol design."

It fits perfectly. StormFlower is styled like a handgun (given it DOES have huge blades on the front, but this is RWBY), it is magazine fed in the same style of all pistols, it's self loading (obviously...), but most importantly, it is built up from a pistol design.

By classifying it as an SMG, you're basically erasing the distinction between all SMGs and automatic small arms. What you'd be saying is that if it is an automatic weapon that can fire pistol rounds, its an SMG. Which is simply not true, because otherwise, why would the distinction of "Machine Pistol" exist in the first place?