- Rep. Andy Ogles defended his gun-filled Christmas message after Nashville's school shooting.
- The Tennessee Republican represents the district where six people were killed Monday.
Rep. Andy Ogles defended his gun-filled Christmas message after a mass shooting at a school in his congressional district, saying it showed him exercising his Constitutional rights.
The Tennessee Republican faced a storm of criticism on Twitter for the 2021 photo after three 9-year-olds and three staff members were killed at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville serving preschool students through sixth graders. The shooter was killed by police.
A reporter for Sky News asked Ogles if he regretted "parading" his family "wielding weapons " on the Christmas message.
"Why would I regret taking a family photo with my family and exercising my Constitutional rights?" Ogles responded.
Sky News reporter James Matthews said, "The right to life surely outweighs the right to bear arms. Your constituents would say that."
Matthews also questioned why Ogles removed the photo from his Facebook feed, although the post appears to still be live at this time. Ogles walked away without responding.
After the shooting, Ogles posted a statement on Twitter, saying he and his family were "devastated by the tragedy."
"We are sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of those lost," he said.
But gun control supporters responded by reposting the Christmas photo that he shared on Facebook.
"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?" wrote Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was among the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
Ogles' 2021 message with the family photo by the Christmas tree said: "The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good," an apocryphal quote from George Washington.
Asked about the message on NBC's Today show, Nashville Mayor John Cooper said the Ogles' Christmas message isn't "appropriate."
"I think the whole country can look at it and shudder a little bit and realize how inappropriate it is," he said. "Guns lead to tragedies and whatever your political feelings are, we should not be celebrating the cult of the gun."
—The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) March 28, 2023