Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), who represents the Nashville district where the Covenant School is located, said Monday in a statement that he was “utterly heartbroken” by the shooting that left six people dead, including three children.
Gun-control advocates and Democrats highlighted another post from Ogles — a 2021 Christmas photo of his family posing with firearms.
THIS is last year’s Christmas card from Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican who represents the district that Covenant School is in in Nashville. #tnleg pic.twitter.com/IpkLzZs5m5
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 27, 2023
After news of the Nashville shooting broke, Ogles said in a statement that he and his family “are devastated by the tragedy that took place at The Covenant School in Nashville this morning.”
“We are sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of those lost,” he said. “As a father of three, I am utterly heartbroken by this senseless act of violence. I am closely monitoring the situation and working with local officials.”
The 2021 photo, which Ogles shared on Facebook, showed him, his wife and two of his three children holding weapons and smiling in front of a Christmas tree.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Ogles wrote, adding a line that is often — and dubiously — credited to George Washington: “The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”
Ogles is a strong proponent of the Second Amendment and gun ownership. On his campaign website, he said: “Disarming the people is the most effective way to enslave them, and we must remain vigilant when anyone seeks to erode our civil liberties. The rights of the people to keep and bear arms, protect themselves and their families, and prevent tyrannical rule is a fundamental liberty of our constitutional republic.”
On Monday, Ogles’s critics shared the congressman’s statement about the shooting along with the Christmas photo.
“How much more bloodshed will it take?” Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Tex.) wrote in a tweet featuring Ogles’s photo. “It’s. The. Guns.”
Fred Guttenberg, who advocates for gun control after his 14-year-daughter, Jaime, was killed in the Parkland school shooting in 2018, said the tragedy “is listening to Tennessee politicians who refuse to call it a shooting but who engaged in behavior that caused this to be more likely when they glorify guns.”
The tragedy of the latest mass shooting is listening to Tennessee politicians who refuse to call it a shooting but who engaged in behavior that caused this to be more likely when they glorify guns. Tennessee Rep @AndyOgles, is this you with your family? pic.twitter.com/LJGnUKqJdA
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) March 27, 2023
Ogles, a freshman congressman, represents Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, which includes the school. On Monday, a 28-year-old armed with two rifles and a handgun killed at least three children and three adults at the private grade school, where the shooter had been a student, authorities said. The shooter is also dead after being “engaged” by police.
Ogles’s office had no immediate comment to the criticism on Monday.