On March 27, 2023, claims spread on Twitter that the U.S. House of Representatives member whose district included the Tennessee school where six people were fatally shot had taken a Christmas photo of family posing with guns. While his district did include Covenant School, we found the photograph was actually from 2021.
"THIS is last year's Christmas card from Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican who represents the district that Covenant School is in in Nashville," Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts posted.
THIS is last year's Christmas card from Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican who represents the district that Covenant School is in in Nashville. #tnleg pic.twitter.com/IpkLzZs5m5
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 27, 2023
The claim also spread to other social platforms, like Reddit.
We found a December 2021 post from Ogles' Facebook account with a photograph that matched the one spread on Twitter. It appeared to have been taken down by the afternoon of March 27, hours after a woman opened fire at Covenant. We reached out to Ogles to confirm, and will update this post if we hear back.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS! ????The Ogles Family," the post said. It also included a quote that had been dubiously attributed 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 represents the school's area in the U.S. House of Representatives. He took office in 2023, and previously was the mayor of Maury County, which is in the Middle Tennessee region. In February 2023, it was reported that Ogles had overstated his resume. He later admitted to misstating his college major.