Smg's should be viable weapons in 5-25 range. Some e.g. uzi should be better (nearly as good as melee) at hexing, some ( e.g. mp5 ) should be better at 15-20 range, but in overall those weapons could use some damage buff for sure.
Yesterday I wanted to check silenced uzi and mp5. Fortunately I've found single bluesuit in phoenix. I've been trying to kill him with aimed shots, bursts, even voodoo so i could catch up with pursuit and APs. He was FAing himself and after 4 zone transitions he stopped picked up a barbed spear and I had to run for my life. If I'd use wakizashi it would be instakill, with other weapons it would be a matter of seconds. I was using wrong ammo though ( armor piercing for mp5 ) but still it was a bluesuit -.-