The St. Louis couple who waved guns at protesters last year now want their guns back.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey went viral on social media in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, when seen pointing an assault rifle and a handgun at people rallying outside their mansion.
The BLM protesters were marching towards the office of Mayor Lyda Krewson, however, the McCloskeys said they were 'threatened'.
According to NBC News, Robert Dierker of the City Counselor’s Office told a judge via a virtual hearing on Wednesday (5 January) that the guns taken from the couple have not been destroyed.
Dierker revealed: "Obviously with our customary efficiency, we should have destroyed (the weapons) months ago. We haven’t. So McCloskey’s a beneficiary of bureaucratic, I want to say, ineptitude.
"But in any event, it’s fortuitous that the weapons still exist."
The McCloskeys, who are both lawyers, pleaded guilty back in June 2020 and as part of the pleas, the pair voluntary gave up their weapons.
However, Mark McCloskey is running for U.S Senate as a Republican and has sued St. Louis, stating he wants the guns to be returned.
"The loss of that property would certainly be a legal disqualification, impediment or other legal disadvantage, of which I have now been absolved by the governor, and therefore the state no longer has any legitimate reason to hold the property," McCloskey said.
At the time, the couple insisted they were worried the protesters would attack their home.
Speaking to KSDK, Mark McCloskey said: "We were threatened with our lives, threatened with a house being burned down, my office building being burned down, even our dog's life being threatened.
"I really thought it was storming the Bastille, that we would be dead and the house would be burned and there was nothing we could do about it."
In 2020, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said in a statement to the Associated Press: "It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner at those participating in nonviolent protest, and while we are fortunate this situation did not escalate into deadly force, this type of conduct is unacceptable in St. Louis.
"We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation will not be tolerating."
No shots were fired during the incident.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Black Lives Matter, US News
Anish Vij