Did Andy Ogles Let Toddler Hold a Gun? Old Instagram Post Sparks Outrage

Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles, whose district includes the private elementary school where six people were killed in Monday's mass shooting, has stirred public wrath over a photo shared in 2016 showing his young child holding a toy resembling an assault-style weapon.

On Monday, three students and three staff members were killed at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, by 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who police said was armed with two assault-style weapons and a handgun.

Ogles quickly earned attention online following the shooting after gun-control advocates resurfaced a family Christmas card the congressman had posted to his Facebook account in 2021, which features himself, his wife and two of their three kids holding AR-15-style weapons in front of a Christmas tree. The photo garnered criticism against Ogles, a staunch support of Second Amendment rights, amid the Covenant shooting.

On Wednesday, co-founder of March for Our Lives David Hogg also helped resurface a photo from Ogles' Instagram account posted in 2016, which shows the congressman's youngest child with the caption: "Weapons training. #2ndamendment"

"This is a photo from Rep Ogles instagram—the Congressman who represents the district in Nashville where the shooting happened," Hogg wrote in his Twitter post, which included a screenshot of the photo and a link to Ogles' Instagram account. "Call his office and let him know what you think (202) 225-4311."

Ogles' communications director, Emma Settle, told Newsweek via email on Wednesday that the object shown in the photo is a toy. Hogg also addressed the gun's legitimacy in a following tweet, writing, "Apparently this gun is an airsoft gun (thank god) but this is still not ok."

A screenshot of the picture, which Ogles posted July 1, 2016, was also posted to Twitter by Katherine Abughazaleh, researcher at the progressive watchdog site Media Matters. Abughazaleh also shared a screenshot of Ogles' Christmas card in a following tweet.

Several users responded to her thread in outrage over Ogles' Instagram picture. Former CBS News correspondent Don Champion commented, "Talk about grooming!"

Another user asked, "Don't you guys have child services in the US?"

Ogles' Instagram comment section was also filled with recent criticism despite the post being several years old, with more users claiming the photo is an example of "grooming" or "child abuse." One user commented Wednesday night, "This post has not aged well. You are sick man."

Some Twitter users did come to Ogles' defense. Brandon Herrera, a YouTube creator and owner of a firearms manufacturer in North Carolina, responded to Hogg's screenshot, "I think teaching kids about gun safety is extremely important. Well done @RepOgles."

Another user added, "I teach my kids gun safety and trigger discipline with BB guns too! Smart!"

In an interview with Fox News host Andrew Craft on Tuesday, Ogles rebuffed the criticism he received for his family's 2021 Christmas card, telling Craft that a reporter had asked him earlier that day if he regrets posting the photo.

"And the answer is a simple no, I don't regret taking a photo with my family, nor do I regret exercising my second amendment rights which are in the Constitution of the United States," Ogles said. "And look, you know, as you're looking at photographs, it's a public service announcement on how to properly hold and display a weapon. My kids have been trained, they know how to handle a weapon."

"This is the United States of America. I have a right to bear arms, I am going to bear arms," Ogles continued. "I'm not going to change my stance on that because someone stupid does something horrible in our communities. But we've got to get to the root causes of this and look, we can't ban our way out of the situation."

Update, 3/30/23, 5:15 p.m. ET: This article was updated to say that the child in the photo was holding a toy resembling an assault-style weapon.