Hmm, I suppose... I understand what you mean with the SMG but I do believe they should have a pistol of some sort added for the close range encounters :)

Uhh?
The reason for adding an SMG at all is to create more diverse gameplay..
If you could have both on you, that removes from the purpose of adding in the very different weapon.. if you pick rifle, keep your distance and carefully plan your flanking - if you choose SMG, run in there and hope for the best (since it only becomes an effective weapon at very short ranges)... otherwise you can pick and choose, which leads back to the same old gameplay of camper wars.

A secondary slot I've not really been too keen on for the same reasons, however I would be intrigued to see how a low damage weapon would affect gameplay.. perhaps worth a prototype, but only once all the weapons are balanced and gameplay is nice and stable.

I think that there should be a sidearm of some sort added, maybe a pistol with low recoil, high rate of fire, or maybe they could change the SMG to being the secondary weapon. Being in those close combat gunfights with a rifle is annoying, but I don't want to have to use an SMG at all times just to prevent that.
Do other people think this? When I read the changelog after the 0.54 update I assumed that the SMG would be a secondary weapon and you could carry both at the same time, as this makes sense. I figured the SMG was added to help in the close combat situation... am I alone on this one?
I think I should be able to carry the rifle and the SMG at the same time and switch between! :)