On June 3, 2015, it was reported that "RCMP officers have started openly carrying MP5 submachine guns on Parliament Hill as part of a visible increase to Parliament Hill security following last October's terrorist attack" in 2014. Conservative senator Vern White, a former RCMP officer and a former Ottawa police chief, says "...some RCMP officers guarding Parliament Hill against potential terrorist attacks should be armed with rifles similar to those carried by Canadian troops in Afghanistan [,]" the "...more powerful Colt C8 [which is] popular with police tactical teams and Canadian and other NATO alliance troops". White argues that the C8 carbines would give officers a much longer shooting range than the short-barreled MP5 submachine guns. "The RCMP is issuing more than 2,200 C8 carbines to its officers [,]" but the RCMP has not indicated whether the C8s will be issued to Parliament Hill officers.