They were stunning days after police slowly cut off oxygen to George Floyd as other officers looked on impotently. There were peaceful protests following the dictate of Martin Luther King. One group of those protesters walked on the street in front of a St. Louis couple’s home as the man and woman stood in their front yard posing for the cameras, guns in arm and in hand. That eventually took them to the Missouri Supreme Court.
Mark McCloskey was holding an AR-15-style military-style rifle, and Patricia McCloskey held a semi-automatic pistol as the protesters walked past them and on to the home of the St. Louis mayor, KY3 reported. He was yelling at the protestors, both pointed their weapons at the marchers:
‘Mark McCloskey emerged from his home with an AR-15-style rifle, and Patricia McCloskey waved a semi-automatic pistol.’
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both attorneys, received misdemeanor charges in 2020, which were eventually pardoned by Missouri Governor Michael Parson in 2021, according to The USA Today newspaper. But they were still looking at possibly losing their licenses to practice law due to legal disciplinary actions.
They took their case to the Missouri Supreme Court which temporarily suspended their licenses until and if it decided to hear their appeal. On Monday, the high court made its decision. It would not hear the case.
Mark McCloskey was a personal injury lawyer. But he is also a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat, running to replace the longtime Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), who is retiring. State investigators’ decision was to suspend the the couple’s law licenses.
Missouri’s Supreme Court went with an unending license suspension, but held the two attorneys on probation for one year. In addition, the couple had to file probation monitor reports every three months. Under this directive, they had to also perform 100 hours of free legal services, according to the Missouri Courts. Finally, they were required to report any charges for additional crimes.
The couple defended themselves by claiming the state court “violated their Second Amendment rights.” They insisted that they had been:
‘[E]xercising lawful rights to bear arms in defense of their person, family, and home.’
Missouri State Senator Eric Burlison (R) said:
‘We’re just simply saying we’re not going to lift a finger to enforce their rules.’
Governor Parson’s spokesperson released a statement that read, The American Military News reported:
‘The Governor is aware of the legal implications of this bill, but also that, now more than ever, we must define a limited role for federal government in order to protect citizen’s rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. This is about empowering people to protect themselves and acknowledging the federalist constitutional structure of our government.’
Neither one of the couple fired their weapons.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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