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Tennessee congressman Andy Ogles defended his controversial Christmas photo showing him and his family posing with guns, following severe criticism in the wake of a school shooting in his district this week that killed seven people, including three children.
Mr Ogles represents Tennessee’s 5th congressional district where the Nashville school shooting took place. He posted the photo to his Facebook in December 2021 showing himself, his wife, and three children posing with four guns.
When asked if he regrets the photo, the pro-gun congressman told Sky News: “Why would I regret a photograph with my family exercising my rights to bear arms?”
The post has since been deleted from his social media profiles following a severe backlash.
Mr Ogles refused to explain why the photograph was removed from social media after the Nashville shooting and not in the wake of previous school attacks.
“Merry Christmas! The Ogles Family,” the Facebook post read. At the time, Mr Ogles was serving as mayor of Maury County.
He included a quote: “The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honour with all that’s good.”
Mr Ogles’s photo resurfaced and went viral on social media after three children and three adults were fatally shot at The Covenant School in Nashville during a school shooting.
Gun control activist Shannon Watts tweeted the Ogles’s Christmas photo which received 17 million views and thousands of retweets.
“THIS is last year’s Christmas card from Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican who represents the district that Covenant School is in [sic] Nashville,” Ms Watts wrote.
In response to the shooting, Mr Ogles released a statement saying he and his family are “devastated by the tragedy that took place at The Covenant school” and send their “thoughts and prayers” to the victims’ families.
“As a father of three, I am utterly heartbroken by this senseless act of violence,” Mr Ogles said.
But gun activists continued to criticise Mr Ogles for posing with firearms while expressing devastation for the victims and their families.
Fred Guttenberg, a gun control activist whose 14-year-old daughter was killed during the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida wrote: “The tragedy of the latest mass shooting is listening to Tennessee politicians who refuse to call it a shooting but who engaged in behaviour that caused this to be more likely when they glorify guns.”
Twitter user Treat tweeted, “I don’t think he is the best example of a role model.”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Ogles’s office for comment.
The shooter was identified by their name at birth, Audrey Elizabeth Hale. Hale reportedly was a transgender man who used he/him pronouns, though law enforcement officials initially described the suspect as a woman in the aftermath of the shooting.
Police did not provide another name, but on the suspect’s social media accounts, Hale refered to himself as Aiden.
The 28-year-old, broke into the school armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun and opened fire. Police who responded to the shooting shot Hale dead.
Metro Nashville Police chief John Drake said Hale was not believed to have any previous criminal record. Chief Drake said police found a “manifesto” and map of the school grounds at Hale’s residence.
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