Republican Representative Andy Ogles from Tennessee has received backlash for a Christmas card photo showing him and his family holding assault rifles.
The criticism comes in the wake of the shooting at a private Christian grade school, which claimed the lives of three children and three adults.
While Ogles issued a statement expressing his condolences and offering his prayers, the photo of his family with assault rifles quickly circulated on social media.
Critics have accused the politician of glorifying guns, which they believe contributed to the shooting.
Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter in the Parkland mass shooting in 2014, tweeted the photo stating that it is tragic to hear Tennessee politicians refuse to call shootings what they are, while their behavior makes them more likely.
Ogles defended the photo, saying it was a display of exercising his constitutional right to bear arms. The controversial post has since been deleted.
