Rep. Andy Ogles, a first-term Republican who represents a Nashville district where a shooter killed six people at a school on Monday, faced criticism from gun control advocates and Democrats on Tuesday, When a photo from 2021 surfaced again, presenting the Ogles and their family firearms. In front of the family’s Christmas tree.
On Monday, a shooter attacked The Covenant School in Nashville, killing six people, including three children. In a statement released the same day, Ogles said he was “devastated” by the shooting.
“We are sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of those killed,” Ogles said. “As a father of three children, I am completely appalled by this senseless act of violence.”
But gun control advocates quickly dug up Ogle’s social media history, uncovering a post in which he and his family display heavy weapons in front of their Christmas tree. “The environment of firearms anywhere and everywhere defies the interference of evil – they all deserve a place of honor alongside the good,” the ogle’s caption read.
“How much more bloodshed will there be?” Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, wrote in a tweet highlighting the picture of the Ogles. “It is. Guns.”
Fred Guttenberg, a gun control advocate whose 14-year-old was killed in a 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, also condemned the ogles.
Guttenberg wrote in a tweet, “The tragedy of the latest mass shooting is listening to Tennessee politicians who refuse to call this a shooting, but who engaged in behavior that, when they glorify guns, likely There is more.”
Asked if there should be any action from Congress in the wake of the mass shooting, Ogles said, “We don’t want to jump to any conclusions. There’s just too much information about this case that hasn’t been let out.” Is.” public.
“Ultimately I think what this does is highlight some of the mental health issues that the mental health crisis that we have in this country should be a real conversation that we’re having right now,” he continued.
Ogles has since removed the photo from its Facebook account. When asked if he regretted the post, Ogles replied, “Why would I regret a picture of me exercising my right to bear arms with my family?”
His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News about why the photo was removed.
The Ogles’ campaign website portrays them as champions of the Second Amendment.
The Ogles’ website reads, “Disarming people is the most effective way to enslave them, and we must be vigilant when someone seeks to take away our civil liberties.” “The right of the people to keep and bear arms, to defend themselves and their families, and to resist tyrannical rule, is a fundamental liberty of our constitutional republic.”