The St. Louis couple who brandished weapons to defend their property against storming Black Lives Matter protesters five years ago reclaimed the confiscated AR-15 after a lengthy battle.
Mark McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, both lawyers, went viral after wielding guns on their property after BLM protesters broke down an iron gate and ignored a "no trespassing" sign in June 2020.
"It only took 3 lawsuits, 2 trips to the Court of Appeals and 1,847 days, but I got my AR15 back! We defended our home, were persecuted by the left, smeared by the press, and threatened with death, but we never backed down," Mark McCloskey posted Friday on X, adding video of him picking up his AR-15.
Patricia McCloskey’s Bryco .380-caliber pistol is expected to be returned next week, Mark McCloskey said Saturday. He said the AR-15 ended up in the possession of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, while the St. Louis Sheriff’s Department has the Bryco.
The McCloskeys said they felt threatened by the mob, which was marching as part of the George Floyd protests. Nobody was hurt.
"When you're facing 350 to 500 people screaming death and arson — 'I'm going to rape and kill your wife, I'm going to burn down your house, I'm going to burn down your office building, I'm going to kill your dog' — the fact that we were able to hold them off is proof of the value of the Second Amendment and the absolute reason why we should resist every attempt on the part of the government to restrict, control, or remove those rights," Mark McCloskey told Newsmax in June 2022.
Police seized the weapons, and the McCloskeys were charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a Democrat prosecutor at the time. They pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and second-degree harassment.
Following a pardon by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson in August 2021, Mark McCloskey filed a lawsuit seeking the return of the guns and a refund for the $872.50 in fines the couple paid. A Missouri appeals court confirmed last month that the convictions were expunged, meaning the incident never happened, in essence.
"Each and every one of us owns a personal responsibility for our freedom and our democratic republic," Mark McCloskey said Saturday. "If you’ve been wronged, if you’ve been overreached by the leftist government — you can’t give up."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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