UPDATE: Because of the attention the Christmas photo received, Congressman Andy Ogles deleted the tweet.
In the wake of the tragic school shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, the area's Republican congressman, Andy Ogles, tweeted out a statement saying that he was “devastated” and “heartbroken” by what occurred. But according to Washington Post reporter Mariana Alfaro and the radical anti-gun rights liberals she leaned on, Ogles had no right to mourn the victims because he owned guns and took a family Christmas photo with them.
With a sarcastic headline reading “GOP congressman from Nashville district ‘heartbroken’ by shooting,” Alfaro noted: “Democrats, gun-control advocates highlighted a 2021 Christmas photo showing Rep. Andrew Ogles and members of his family with firearms.”
The focus on the two-year-old photo started with a tweet from Agence France-Presse White House reporter Sebastian Smith. Smith chided Ogles’ emotions by suggesting he knows a lot about the weapon the shooter used.
— Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) March 27, 2023
“Rep. Ogles is tweeting 'thoughts and prayers' as a reaction to the gunning down of children by a child armed with several firearms at the Nashville private school today. He apparently knows a lot about firearms, judging by the Christmas family pic he distributed,” he wrote.
That attitude was parroted by Alfaro, juxtaposing his family’s happy Christmas card with their reaction to the tragedy:
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.”
(…)
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,” Alfaro warned, going on to quote from his campaign website.
Alfaro also highlighted the unhinged ranting of anti-gun rights radicals such as this screed from Parkland parent Fred Guttenberg, who blamed Ogles for the shooting:
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?
She also quoted Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts. “THIS is last year's Christmas card from Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles,” she falsely asserted, “a Republican who represents the district that Covenant School is in in [sic] Nashville.” And radical Texas Democrat Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who quote tweeted Watts photo of Ogles and proclaimed: "How much more bloodshed will it take?"
This report by The Washington Post came the same day they published an untruthful hit piece against the firearms industry and the AR-15 platform.
