On Monday, three 9-year-old students and three staff members were killed at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, a suspect was identified by police to be 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who had entered the school with two assault-style weapons and a handgun. Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles, whose district includes the Christian private school where the school shooting took place, has been blasted online after sharing a photo in 2016 of a young child playing with a toy that looked like an assault-style weapon.
Ogles was very quick to receive an online following after gun-control advocates brought out a family Christmas card from the Congressman which Ogles had shared on his Facebook account in 2021. In the photo, he along with his wife and three Children can be seen around the Christmas Tree. The uncommon feature in the image though is that two of the three children were holding AR-15-style weapons.
The photo has led to many blasting Ogles, who is a vocal supporter of the Second Amendment despite the recent shooting in Nashville.
On Wednesday, co-founder of March for Our Lives David Hogg who was part of the efforts for the images to resurface, helped bring to light another image from Ogles’ Instagram account posted in 2016, in which the congressman is with his youngest style. In the caption, he has written: “Weapons training. #2ndamendment”
Ogles’ communications director, Emma Settle, has defended the photo stating that the photo only shows a toy.
This is a real Instagram post from Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN): pic.twitter.com/Sjpr0ZZriE
— Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) March 29, 2023
