McCloskeys win back AR-15 rifle 5 years after Black Lives Matter protest confrontation
The St. Louis couple who went viral in 2020 for wielding guns as Black Lives Matter protesters marched outside their property have regained possession of their semiautomatic rifle.
After a yearslong and complex legal struggle to reclaim their weapons after they were seized by authorities more than five years ago, police have returned the AR-15 to St. Louis lawyers Mark and Patricia McCloskey.
"It only took 3 lawsuits, 2 trips to the Court of Appeals and 1,847 days, but I got my AR15 back!" Mark McCloskey posted to his X account on Friday, along with several photos of him carrying the gun.
"We defended our home, were persecuted by the left, smeared by the press, and threatened with death, but we never backed down."
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In a separate X post, Mark McCloskey also shared a video of himself retrieving the rifle from a police station.
"That gun may have only been worth $1,500 or something, and it cost me a lot of time and a lot of effort to get it back, but you have to do that," Mark McCloskey told Fox News Digital, adding he owns other weapons. "You have to let them know that you will never back down, you'll never give up."
He said he expects their pistol, wielded by Patricia McCloskey during the confrontation, to be returned by next week. The AR-15 ended up in the possession of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, while the pistol wound up in the possession of the St. Louis Sheriff's Department, he added.
"Each and every one of us owns a personal responsibility for our freedom and our democratic republic," Mark McCloskey said.
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In June 2020, a video of the gun-toting McCloskeys took the internet by storm after a swarm of Black Lives Matter protesters broke down an iron gate and ignored a "No Trespassing" sign on their private street.
The couple, who said they felt threatened, armed themselves before heading outside to ward off the crowd, which was on its way to the former mayor’s home. No one was hurt.
After the incident, the McCloskeys's were were seized by law enforcement, and they were charged with unlawful use of a weapon by St. Louis' former Democratic prosecutor, Kim Gardner. Shortly after that, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt moved to dismiss charges brought by Gardner.
In 2021, the McCloskeys pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and second-degree harassment but later were granted a pardon by former Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.
Last month, a Missouri appeals court confirmed the expungement of the McCloskeys' misdemeanor convictions, which, under state law, means it is as though the incident never happened, Mark McCloskey said.
"If you've been wronged, if you've been overreached by the leftist government — you can't give up," Mark McCloskey told Fox News Digital. "You can't let them get an inch."
The St. Louis Sheriff's Office and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.