Before his gun-filled Christmas message, Rep. Andy Ogles posted a photo of a toddler holding a toy gun

• After a mass shooting in his district, critics found Rep. Andy Ogles' gun-filled Christmas picture.
• Another photo from 2016 has emerged from his Instagram account, showing a toddler holding a toy gun.

Years before he shared a gun-filled family Christmas message on Facebook, Andy Ogles posted a photo of a toddler holding a large toy firearm.

"Weapons training," he wrote in July 2016 on Instagram. "#2ndamendment"

Ogles, elected to Congress six years later, now represents the Tennessee congressional district where three 9-year-olds and three staff members were killed Monday at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville.

Twitter users responded to his message of "thoughts and prayers" for the victims' families by resharing the photo he posted on Facebook of his family holding weapons by a Christmas tree in 2021.

Since then, Katherine Abughazeleh of the progressive research organization Media Matters for America dug up the additional photo of the toddler from his Instagram account in 2016.

Ogles' office says the gun is a toy.

Rep. Andy Ogles defended his Christmas message in a brief interview with Sky News after the image was widely criticized by gun control advocates after the shooting.

"Why would I regret taking a family photo with my family and exercising my Constitutional rights?" Ogles responded to the reporter.

Correction, March 30, 2023 — The child in the Instagram post is holding a toy guy. The post initially reported the child was holding a real firearm. The article has been updated throughout to reflect this change.